South African storytelling startup VoiceMap, until now only available on iOS, has launched an Android app.
VoiceMap chief executive officer (CEO) Iain Manley said the app had been a long time in the making, but is finally here.
“Android apps need to work on thousands of different Android devices, and the process is like applying lipstick to a very lively pig. It takes time. It is also likely to get smudged,” he said.
“With that said, our Android app tells a really good story, just like our iPhone app, and it has Google’s much prettier maps.”
Manley said VoiceMap had also recently launched its 20th route in Cape Town.
Disrupt Africa first reported on VoiceMap back in December, with the app allowing storytellers to plan, narrate and publish their own audio walking routes, which can then be downloaded by users.
The app uses a smartphone’s GPS receiver to tell stories on the move, with new tracks automatically beginning once the user enters the radius around a certain point. All the audio files, the map, and GPS data are downloadable, so there is no need for a mobile data connection during the walk.
“Commentary can be very dry because it is a type of institutional voice,” Manley told Disrupt Africa, describing why VoiceMap’s audio routes are different.
“You get a way of feeling about a place via that person. So that’s why the voice of that person is very important.
“My best travel experiences have been when a local shows me their city. It immediately cuts through all the abstraction of being an outsider, making you a participant, with a point of reference that helps you identify with a place. You get to share somebody else’s feelings for their home.”
