A challenge for the city: making heritage accessible

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How can you help visitors discover a city without extra guides, without distributing audioguides, and without asking them to download a complex app?

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Auxerre wanted to showcase its heritage—from the Clock Tower to Saint-Germain Abbey and the archaeological sites of Les Noisats in Gurgy—while offering a modern, accessible form of mediation for all.

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The Ask Mona solution: a conversational agent at the heart of the city

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To meet this challenge, Ask Mona designed “Germain”, a conversational agent embodying a Roman from the ancient era. Accessible directly from visitors’ smartphones, Germain speaks six languages (French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Chinese) and guides the curious across more than 50 points of interest spread throughout the city.

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No devices to manage, no downloads required: simply scan a QR code to start the conversation.

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Seamless and engaging outdoor mediation

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At every stop, Germain tells the story of the site with pedagogy and anecdotes. He adapts to the visitor’s questions, making each exchange unique. Mediation becomes interactive, close to that of a human guide, yet available at any time and in the visitor’s own language.

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The result: deeper engagement with heritage, a livelier experience, and improved accessibility for international tourists.

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Benefits for the teams

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For municipal and cultural teams, this system brings significant time savings. No more distributing and maintaining audioguides—everything happens on the visitor’s smartphone.

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In addition, the tool collects anonymized data on the most frequent questions and the most visited points of interest. These insights help refine the city’s cultural and tourism strategy.

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An inspiring model for other destinations

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With Germain, Auxerre shows that conversational AI is a powerful lever for outdoor mediation. It extends discovery beyond museum walls, animates an entire territory, and makes culture more accessible.

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What if you rethought your mediation?

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Would you like to enrich your visitors’ experience with a conversational agent while lightening your team’s workload?

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Let’s talk and imagine together the mediation experience that will bring your heritage to life.