The world’s first GPS-triggered smartphone app will be launched tomorrow – and it’s already in the running for a major technical award.
The ‘geo-aware’ Hackney Hear app has been put together by lovers of all things local, the Hackney Podcast, and sets off an interactive soundtrack which plays poems, stories and explanations of local history when users walk past local landmarks.
Hackney Podcast is run by professional producers working on a voluntary basis to support the community and document events in the borough. Now they are up against media giants Absolute Radio and BBC collaboration, RadioTAG for a serious reward.
Free to download on iPhone, the system has been shortlisted for the Radio Academy Techcon Technical Innovation Award 2011. It features ‘tri-sound’ technology, meaning users hear spoken word, music, and realistic background noise at the same time.
TechCon chair Martyn Humphreys said: “The judges were very impressed with the high standard of all the entries, but they shortlisted these three because of their potential to really change the game in the radio industry.”
Among the judges is Stephen Baily, general manager of BBC research and development.
Hackney Hear is the first app to play sounds and music determined by the location of the user. A bus stop features a story of a woman who gave birth on a bus; at Hackney’s outdoor swimming pool, poet Shane Solanki’s ‘Lido Song’ is played. Stories range from writer Iain Sinclair talking about the history of Hackney parks to locals’ tales ranging from first kisses to gang culture.
A trial user described the experience as “a dreamlike lesson on the many faces of Hackney”, while poet and contributor Shane Solanki said: “Unfortunately, libraries will close over the next 50 years. Hackney Hear is Hackney’s library of the future. Hackney Hear founder Francesca Panetta said: “We wanted to take listeners on an exclusive journey through this amazingly eclectic borough.”
The app works anywhere in London Fields or Broadway Market, and features stories from residents and celebrities, archived sounds of old Hackney and new spoken and musical works from Hackney artists.
