Walking tour
By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor
Doug Taylor Photo
For the past one-and-a-half years the society has been working closely with the creators of On This Spot, an app that merges new technology with the town’s past, which will be made available for the public for the first time on June 9; making Strathmore the first community in Alberta to launch the app.
Currently five communities exist on the app: Vancouver, Nanaimo and Esquimalt in B.C., and Gleichen and Strathmore in Alberta. Thus far, the app blends past and present photographs and provides guided walking tours to unearth the municipalities histories – including three tours in Strathmore.
“We’re excited; our little town in Strathmore is the first town in Alberta and they hope to grow this Canada-wide, plus they’re branching off into the United States,” said Rhonda Stockwell, president of WDHS. “A lot of different areas have expressed interest in making it suitable for their region. It’ll help with bringing people to town for the tourism aspect, and just being able to introduce it into the schools to help with the school curriculum and learning the history of Strathmore.”
On This Spot is the brainchild of Vancouver local Andrew Farris who, together with Chris Reid and Sean Edmunds, developed the application. Farris, an avid history buff, created a blog where he posted photo essays from cities he visited around the world while backpacking a few years ago. The interest it generated and the engagement it fuelled from the online community gave rise to the app.
“We wanted to find a way to make the place come more alive and have a more tangible connection with the history in our communities, to tell the stories of people that once lived there, and have it available right at their fingertips,” said Farris.
“In Canada we’re finding it’s becoming really popular with young people. In addition to that we found that a whole variety of different levels of schools and educational institutions have integrated the app into their curriculum.”
The University of Victoria currently uses On This Spot as a teaching tool, while closer to home, Strathmore’s Grade 2 students already experimented with the tour last year.
According to Edmunds, the app is a good complement to tourism or heritage promotional efforts and provides a digital history experience.
Currently the trio is working hard on creating additional features, such as a print store, a business subscription system to allow local businesses to be featured in the app and adding another nine Canadian cities.
“I think it’s really important to talk about the economic development capacity this app has … very soon there’ll be a process rolled out where when you’re standing on that spot, if you allow the app to access your location, coupons will pop out for that store,” said Strathmore town councillor Denise Peterson. “There’s a camera where you can situate yourself in the picture. There’s a lot of really great stuff about our community on this app.”
The Western District Historical Society is also keeping busy in preparing for the hard launch. The tour will start at the Strathmore Station, move uptown towards the firewalls, walk to the Union Bank – now the Standard Shoe Shop – head across the street to the old telephone building with a final stop at the Royal Canadian Legion. The event will also feature a barbecue at the historical CPR Demonstration supply barn south on George Freeman Trail across Highway 1, where society members took part in planting a field of sunflowers as had existed in the past. A flat-deck trailer with benches will also be available during the event for seniors as well as 10 iPads. Those interested in attending are encouraged to download the app beforehand at onthisspot.ca/strathmore.
The On This Spot launch will go from 9 a.m. to noon on June 9. For more information visit the On This Spot Facebook page.