GPS Storytelling. The Manifesto
Why not take stories out into the real world and attach them to places so we can hear or read them even if there's nobody there to tell them?
I want to use 'GPS Storytelling' to change the way we access information on the internet. At the moment, we can gain a word of knowledge without even leaving our armchairs. I want the traveller to take a journey and uncover information on the way. I like to think of this as a contemporary version of an old storytelling tradition. In the past people would gather in one place to listen to a story. With GPS Storytelling, they travel to locations all over the world where stories are waiting to be read.

How does it work?
GPS Storytelling is a mobile application for Symbian OS based mobile phones (88% of UK market). Users install it just once and content is then fed to the application. No further downloading is necessary, unlike with other GPS-based applications such as mspaces by HP.
To receive content, the user simply launches the application so no-one need be bothered by content they don't want. Once launched, the application establishes the user's geolocation and connects to a webserver. The user then selects the channel that interests them from those available and receives content relevant to their location. Each piece of content is hooked to a specific location with a margin of a few hundred meters in order to avoid blank spots.
In version 1.0, only text content is available. The next version will be extended with video channels playing content within the application. A 'google maps'-based interface allows content to be added.

What's so interesting? GPS Storytelling is a whole platform for location-based content on demand. There are a potentially unlimited number of channels for users to view and potentially unlimited content per channel. The possibilities are endless while the complexity of the application is minimal. It's extremely easy to use even for people that are not tech savvy.

What am I looking for?
1. At the moment I need contributing writers to create stories and poems, initially to cover London. When the application is launched, users can be 100% sure that, wherever they go in the capital, they will receive a story and a poem. There are no rules for poems but stories must be based on facts related to the particular place. They may be packaged in a fiction 'wrapper' but need to convey some factual or historical information.
2. I am also looking for contributors to create specialist channels. These could be city guides, historic tours, time-specific location-based actions or anything that the end-user will find of value.
Contact me at: bootchec@bootchec.com

Install GPS Storytelling

Go back