Take the phone and learn about cycleway's scenery

A smartphone should probably go alongside water, warm clothing and sandwiches on your National Cycleway "to take" list.

A phone keeps you in touch with the outside world - but that's not all it can do. Mobile devices are increasingly used to give information about areas visited.

For example, scannable information points, called iPou, are being installed on Te Tihi O Ruru, the track leading to the summit of Rainbow Mountain, south of Rotorua.

This track gives an opportunity to cycle across an active volcanic field.

The Department of Conservation is working with Ngati Tahu-Ngati Whaoa to establish the iPou.

The first of a planned series of more than 30 iPou in the region have been installed at two locations.

A scannable image mounted at the head of the iPou links mobile devices to a video clip relevant to the location.

This can relay anything about the location, from geothermal facts and visitor information to forestry facts, or identifying rare vegetation.

A track to the summit of Rainbow Mountain was first to receive an iPou. It is alongside a bench overlooking the Paeroa Ranges, about halfway up.

"There are plans to add a series of iPou between the Paeroa Ranges and the Horo Horo bluffs," said Shanan Tana of Touch Media, which produces the devices.

"Content received from each iPou can be updated to reflect current events and topical conversation."

DoC partnerships ranger Caraline Abbott said visitor information and interpretation was no longer restricted to wordy signs.

"It's fantastic to see a new type of communication associated with visitor attractions in the Rotorua District."