Free app that lets you hear aloud historical markers as you drive by.

[dmoreau]

Hi. I made an app that combines history and technology. It?s called Georeader (search under Georeader in the Android market). It allows one to write a short message (such as a historical sign?s text) and assign it to a gps location. When a user enters the area, the text is spoken on their phone. I was able to collect over 111,000 points covering roadside markers , historical bridges, even ufo sighting locations and have added them to the data base. It includes states such such as Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Oregon, Michigan, and Pennsylvania's entire historical roadside marker collections plus a ton of other points to hear. You can also make your own points and assign them to any location worldwide. These will be instantly added to the database for all to hear. They can be on almost any topic you like and its a great way to share your knowledge of local history with the rest of the world. Anyhoo, the website is at MyGeoReader: Hear as you near. Learn as you go. for even more info. It's a free app so there is nothing to lose. Please try it out. Thanks! Dave

 

[sanibel]

Wow, very impressive! How long did it take you to compile all that data? It reminds me of Wikipedia's approach to gathering information. Kudos for this undertaking, I am certainly going to get it

 

[Aspiring Developer]

A very good addition to the Augmented reality Apps coming around.

 

[bigk]

Wow great idea, I'll give this a shot. I can see this being a problem for spam though... and to your right is [Billy joes awsome blog] or what ever.

 

[sharkerbaby]

I bet I would love this app, sadly I'm in Illinois, traveling regularly throughout the midwest. I can't wait till the dbase gets filled w/ info near me. I'll for sure try it then.

 

[EvilMonkey]

That's an awesome idea, and I'm in PA so will definitely be trying it out on the way home today. Already downloaded and checked it out a bit from my office.

I agree with the above poster though: This is spam waiting to happen, I think, and pretty soon I'll be getting information about the Starbucks or some guy's ex-girlfriend's house that I just passed (yay!).

You should add a way to filter out "official" ones from "user contributed" ones, or alternatively add a category field when you are adding a point and let me choose which categories I want to hear as I'm driving (and then a way to report a point that's in the wrong category).

Maybe it won't be an issue, but if it takes off, it definitely will be, IMO. Regardless, congrats on the app. Good idea.

EDIT: I see if I pull up a marker there is a "flag as inappropriate" option. Did not notice that before.

 

[brandonx1000]

wow, VERY cool

 

[robotmonkey]

This looks so cool; thanks. I'll test it here in central PA.

 

[EvilMonkey]

Tried it on the way home around Harrisburg, PA and out through Hershey. passed about 5 and it worked pretty well.

I would like an option to override my music though. Right now, it doesn't, but would love to be able to use this in conjunction with Pandora/Slacker and have the music stop to read the marker.

As it is, not sure how often I'll use it, since I probably wouldn't drive around WITHOUT music just to hear historical markers.

 

[dmoreau]

Thanks you all for your kind words and trying out the app. These are some good suggestions. I'll try to address all of your insights. I do have the ability to delete spamming sounding messages and you guys did notice "the flag as inappropriate" to help me find them. Ultimately we will work on getting a filter for only for topics you are interested in but at worst case we keep the limit on messages short so even if you are not interested, it would be over soon. Right now as the app is so new and there is so much space to cover, there is a lot of leeway on what is "ok" but it could tighten up if needed. As far as an option having the music being overridden that is interesting, it kind of just worked out this way where it would play "in harmony" with Pandora and not override it. If you are using the GPS however, we made it so the GPS would override what is being said so you wouldn't get lost.We also made it that if you got a phone call, the app would stop talking. Giving a person an option to control these features is something I'll consider for the future. Even if you live in Illinois, there are tons of info all round the country (go to the website MyGeoReader: Hear as you near. Learn as you go. and surf around) so there is no reason to wait to download it.
If there are issues with points being misclassified, you can shoot off an email so we can see if it needs fixing but be specific on what is wrong if possible (I can't remember offhand which email address you send it to but its on the website FAQs)
About the similarity to the Wikipedia approach on growing a body of knowledge, you are exactly right. I would love for people to add bits of knowledge about their area to share and build it up so we are always learning something. It took a lot of phone calls, emails, and research to get the database going but I wanted to have something relatively nearby everybody to at least get started with.
I hope I answered everybody questions. If you have more, please post them. Thanks Dave

 

[jmerrey]

great app

 

[sharkerbaby]

re: Illinois, you're right there does seem to be alot around me. Heck even the building I work in is listed!! I'm going to download and try it out. Thanks.

 

[milominderbinde]

dmoreau,

Nice app. A suggestion:

When you tap the first time on a blue pin a tiny description pops up. Could the pop-up nearly fill the screen so that you don't have to click it a second time in most cases?

 

[dmoreau]

I listen to all suggestions so keep them coming. Please try out making some talking points as well and give some feedback. You can try it through the website and through the app. There is a video on the website to show you how to make them through the app. Just find something interesting to write about some place and give it a shot. Also critique if the buttons need more labels, for instance, could you find if it was easy to reset (and hear again) all the points you heard in the past and/or change you range?
Thanks Dave

 

[EvilMonkey]

Ok, I used it again this morning with music (Slacker) on. It does work, but just talks while the music plays (so you end up with a garbled mess you can't understand).

If you could make it so the music stops/mutes, that would be great and I'd just leave it on by default when I'm driving. I wouldn't want it to override navigation prompts though (I am not a developer, but assume you can differentiate between the two and override music but not navigation).

I do think it's a great idea though. I'll be curious to see how the user community adds things (still fear it will be a big spam issue).

 

[dmoreau]

I use Pandora all the time and have it the output go through the cars speakers. I have no problem distinguishing between the two even when they are both playing. But I also use the British voice on the TTS for added clarity .Maybe that could help you in the interim period.

 

[dmoreau]

This Georeader app was picked as finalist in the 2010 European Satellite Navigation Competition so that is pretty neat. I should know soon if I won something. I am up for a regional award (North America).

 

[robotmonkey]

Good luck to you!

 

[dmoreau]

Well, I don't think I won but that's ok. I am still happy I got close. Got a couple of sites that picked the app up and gave it a nice review.

 

[dmoreau]

got real close to winning

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