CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The College of Charleston launched on Thursday the first self-guided campus tour iPhone application in the nation for institutions of higher learning.

Four students in Charleston 40, the official student tour guide organization, revealed the new platform for showing off the College in press conference held in Cougar Mall at 1:30 p.m. The application "will enable the College to showcase its beautiful facilities, academic excellence, vibrant campus life and proud history in rich detail," according to the College's press release that was sent out Thursday morning.

City Slickers CEO Tommy Dew, '90, assisted the College in developing the application's software and said the mobile technology was here to stay.

"The real impact is getting the young people excited about College of Charleston embracing this new development," Dew said. "This tour allows students to access text, photo, video and audio. It's the first college campus tour on that platform."

The application is available on iTunes for free for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

Mike Haskins, executive vice president of marketing and communications, said that being able to show the College's unique history while still use new technology is something he's very proud of.

"We have this really long and rich past, but it's great to show that the College is also a cutting edge, future-oriented university as well," Haskins said.

City Slickers and members of Marketing and Communications plotted the historic buildings on campus via GPS. Those using the application can be directed to those locations, and once there, people can explore the text, photo, video and audio information about that location.

Melissa Whetzel, director of media relations, supervised the shooting and editing of the video.

Dew credited Marketing and Communications for its nonstop work over the past four months to complete this project.

"Mike [Haskins'] team is responsible for getting this done," Dew said. "He and his team performed with entrepreneural zeal. 

The College is City Slicker's demo school, and the company intends to sell the application format to other universities across the country.

The new platform for marketing the College joins the school's other existing social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. 

Haskins said the next step is to evaluate how the university's use of these social media platforms will play a role in completing the goals of the new strategic plan.

"We've done a lot of work to populate the YouTube site, to enhance our publications, to work with our media outlets to let them know about the College," Haskins said. "We've done a tremendous amount of outreach and I think the next step is: How does that all fit in the context of the university's strategic plan?"