Been wondering about using GPS-triggered locational technologies for over-laying real landscapes (for example, excavation sites) with literary content.
The above is a map of the Quantock Hills of Somerset overlaid with virtual 'soundpools' containing evolutionary content. Created by me working with Phill Phelps (coding) and Chris Jenord (creator and idea-initiator of The Ancestors Trail, 'recapitulating the story of life on earth by walking back in time', based, yes, on Richard Dawkin's book, The Ancestors Tale').
What you do is use a software program which allows you to draw 'regions' onto a Google map (the orange zones as above). You then populate these regions with content (audio/imagery, words etc). The program saves the GPS coordinates of these regions. You then upload the whole thing to your iPhone or Google Android phone as an app. The app knows where you are. When the app detects that you are in one of the above 'regions' (or 'soundpools') it plays back/displays the content placed in that region, ie it is 'located' technology - you can only hear the audio in a particular real-world location.
A big advantage is that the app depends only on getting a satellite fix (to up to 7 satellites); it is NOT dependent on having a network signal. All the content is already on the app - it just uses the satellites to trigger it in the appropriate location.
I've been using this technology for over 10 years now. In fact I idea-initiated the world's first use of this technology for literary/play-writing purposes with 1831 RIOT! - recreating the infamous 1831 Reform Riots in Bristol for located audio on the place where they happened: Queen Square in central Bristol (with film-maker Liz Crow).
Tried to use Emma's paper to locate the site of Santa Maria de Guia de Gran Canaria. Google maps says this is it:
A located-audio dummy of the site (?) could look like this:
or, in satellite view:
The orange zones are the GPS-located (located content) zones: walk into one of these with the app on your smartphone and the content is triggered (audio/text/images/whatever). In the last one, zone1 (lower right) is about 20x20m.
Wondered how long it would take me to get there from Bristol, so asked Google, who said:
Or maybe from Madrid, where I have just returned from:
I suppose it all sounds a bit 'techie', but the amazing thing about located content is the ability to place, say, literary (or scientific, or archaeological) content AT THE PLACE WHERE IT HAPPENED. It's a virtual layer, or an added AR layer. Ghosts can be made to speak.
Ralph Hoyte