German Traces NYC of the Goethe Institute was the original inspiration for our project. In a presentation by Julie Koehler on the use of iPads in the language-learning classroom, a description of the German Traces NYC program caught the attention of Felecia Lucht and Laura Kline. After some discussion after the presentation, the very first meeting of ELD took place with the goal to create a similar project in Detroit.
German Traces NYC uses Geostoryteller and Layar to create an augmented reality experience in which users can see older images of locations they visit super-imposed over the view of their camera. German Traces NYC focuses on the German-American history of New York City. There are also German Traces projects in Israel, Brazil, and Slovakia.
Cleveland Historical is another project that inspired us to develop our project. Cleveland Historical features 572 digital stories on the history of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. It is accessible as both a website and a mobile app.
Other augmented reality projects related to storytelling about historical sites include Pivot the World and the New Philadelphia Augmented Reality Tour. The Keweenaw Time Traveler is “focused on the histories of the Keweenaw Peninsula, which extends seventy-five miles into Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This is home to the Copper Country which was the first and among the largest copper mining regions in the United States, providing three-quarters of the nation’s copper during the height of electrification and industrialization.”
Other geohumanities projects
- Carnegie Hall Tchaikovsky Walk Tour
- Cleveland Memory
- Explore 9/11
- German Traces Israel
- PhillyHistory
- ReVilna
- Whatwasthere