The free mobile app - 'King's Cross, London - Streetstories' is an immersive audio walking guide with a difference; as users walk through the streets of King's Cross, the app will automatically activate sounds, music and stories relevant to their GPS location, providing listeners with old and new tales from this part of London.
The app, which can be downloaded via 3G, features ten stories, though there is also a much larger version of the app, Streetstories Extra, available on iPhone which has over 70 stories and about two hours of audio material, downloadable via Wi-Fi. Users can also experience the app away from King's Cross, by using it in manual mode rather than autoplay mode.
Francesca Panetta, Special Projects Editor in GNM's multimedia department, who originated the concept, said: "Streetstories is a great way to experience an area in a new way, and we found out all kinds of things about the area during this project - Charles Dickens lived here for some of his childhood, Thomas Hardy worked as a trainee architect helping to clear bodies from St Pancras Old Church, and along York Way, where our building sits, you would have seen cattle being marched down the road from the Caledonian market, once the largest cattle market in Europe.
"With no pre-determined route and no set time length, users wander the area with their eyes wide open rather than pressing buttons, worrying if they are going in the right direction or getting out of sync with their audio tour. It's also a great example of how technology is helping the Guardian to tell stories in new ways, in this case experimenting with non-linear narratives."
The apps were produced in-house at the Guardian, and developed in partnership with Calvium, the Bristol-based company behind the AppFurnace app development engine. The Guardian's UK offices are in the landmark Kings Place development in King's Cross.
Nina Lovelace, Content Development Manager, GNM, added: "This is a great example of how the Guardian can match its high quality content with innovative technology - whether working alone or with third parties such as Calvium - to quickly create experimental products to test concepts. In this case, investigating the capabilities of, and consumers' interest in, geolocated audio.
"We're keen to get feedback from users, as well as talk to any potential clients keen to develop similar apps for their locations, organisations or travel routes."
The apps are available to download now:
King's Cross, London Streetstories Extra for iPhone
King's Cross, London Streetstories for iPhone
King's Cross, London Streetstories for Android
About AppFurnace
Calvium says: “Francesca Panetta's muti-layered sound experience within Streetstories was created using AppFurnace.
The AppFurnace audio engine senses, mixes and plays the stories according to where and how users walk through the different areas. Sophisticated fading, merging and playing rules make the resulting experience unique to each individual.
AppFurnace makes app technology more affordable for businesses, allowing designers and front-end developers to make beautiful custom mobile apps themselves, for clients. AppFurnace has easy to use screen layout tools for designing apps and has a powerful geo-editor for making engaging location aware apps. It is free to sign-up and use.
Calvium - the Bristol based company behind AppFurnace - also offers training, consultancy and specialist app development services.”
