Outdoor discovery has its own home
Velvet Explorer continues development as a separate outdoor discovery application for trails, parks, landmarks and other public destinations. It is not a replacement for Velvet Direct communications, and Velvet Wayz remains the shared road-navigation authority.
Verified partners before official listings
R55 introduced a controlled application and review flow for Official Places pilots. An organization can be reviewed before its team manages a draft property, an approved public entrance, points of interest, current notices and an organization-authored guided tour. Applicants cannot approve themselves or publish an unverified property.
A practical visitor journey
The pilot design links verified places to QR entry, navigation toward the authorized public entrance, official POI stops, guided tours and operational safety notices. Draft listings remain private; public QR access follows verified publication rather than preceding it.
The field gate remains open
The implementation and synthetic browser checks establish pilot infrastructure, not a completed real-world partner launch. A genuine authorized partner, Android and iPhone/PWA QR scans, outdoor GPS, entry guidance, tour progression, hazard review and privacy acceptance remain required before public pilot certification.
Current status. Official Places pilot intake deployed; first verified real-world partner and field acceptance pending. Explorer is not a general public release.