A few friends of mine, Chris and Cherie from Technomadia.com, are currently at MacWorld promoting a new application for the iPhone / iPod Touch called HearPlanet. I downloaded the application today and let me tell you what… this application is going to rock for traveling photographers and those that like to go on photowalks!!
Image Courtesy of HearPlanet
The entire idea behind this application is that it turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a talking tour guide. Apparently the application uses the location services of the device to figure out where you are and then provides you with a list of locations from its database in the near proximity. Once you select one of the locations that interests you, a new list appears showing the various topics that are available for that area. Guess what happens when you select one of the topics on the list… You got it! The software generated voice reads off the data contained in that entry. Do you find the generated voice annoying? No problem… just unplug your headphones and scroll through the text of the topic and read it. You can also search for locations based on their name if you happen to have heard something was in the area but do not know exactly where it is.
Image Courtesy of HearPlanet
Let me give you a quick example of how freaking cool this thing is. I downloaded the application from iTunes and synced it over to my iPod Touch. I launched the application and within a few seconds a list of locations with a thumbnail of the map and my distance to it appeared. Some notable entries are Brevard Community College, Palm Shores Florida, Windover Farms of Melbourne, Lotus Florida, and Eau Gallie High School. Now I immediately thought that the program was screwed up because I have never heard of a Lotus Florida before. So I selected that one and the topics list came up showing Overview, Geography, Honeymoon Hill, and Honeymoon Lake. Still thinking the application is messed up I selected Overview, hit the play button, and listened to the story… Lotus used to be a town in Brevard County and is now part of Merrit Island! I listened to the rest of the entries and learned that Honeymoon Hill is the highest point in Brevard County and is now known for the expensive houses that are built upon it. Not even 5 minutes after installing the application I now have a new location to go scout tomorrow to take photos!
Image Courtesy of HearPlanet
Have you all started to figure out why I am excited about this application? No, it isn’t because my friends are promoting it. Let me ask you a few questions and your answers to them will show you why this application rocks…
1. Have you ever been on a photowalk and knew that you were looking at something important but had no freaking clue as to what it was?
2. Have you ever been on a photowalk and walked right by something that is important but had no idea it was important so you didn’t take a photo of it only to find out later that you missed something important and wanted to kick yourself in the butt because of it?
3. Have you ever traveled to a new area and wanted to go out sight seeing but couldn’t find a good map that showed where all the cool stuff was at?
4. Have you ever traveled to a new area and wanted to do a photo shoot with a model but since you weren’t familiar with the area you had no idea where to shoot so you went and did yet another shoot on the beach like 5 million other photographers have already done? Wished you knew there was a really cool Indian burial ground, historic bridge, historic building, or something equally cool just a mile away, didn’t you?
Are you starting to see my point now? No more trying to find a tour map or wandering clueless through a new place missing all the cool spots to shoot at… Now you will know what is around that is worth lugging your SLR and other equipment too and you can skip out on looking like a lost tourist.
Now that I’ve glorified this application and have you all scrambling to go download it while it is still free… oh, did I forget to mention that it is FREE this week only? That’s right… they are giving away the application during MacWorld so you better go download it now. Check out the HearPlanet website for the link to the iTunes store.
Oh yeah… now that I have said all the good things about the application I should cover the things that I don’t like about it. Hey, I’ve got to be fair, right?
1. When I am on a photowalk I usually have one ear bud in to listen to music. When you select a topic to listen to the music fades out and the software generated voice comes on to read the topic. Once the voice is done the music does not come back on. I have to exit the program, open up the music application, and hit the play button again. It would be really nice if the music dimmed down and the voice talked over the music or at the very least the music resumed when the voice was done.
2. The details page of a topic has a HearPlanet graphic at the top followed by the name of the location and topic, the play button, and the status bar. This leaves very little room for the text itself. It would be nice if the graphic was removed, the location name text was smaller, and the topic text the same size as it is now. This would leave more room for the text for those that want to read it instead of listen to it.
3. All the locations and data appear to be coming from Wikipedia entries. It would be nice if there was an additional database that had more information in it… user generated information to be precise. It would be awesome if a photowalk organizer could walk an area in advance and store locations of interest with text tags so during the official walk the other photographers can hear that data so they do not miss anything that they otherwise might have overlooked.
Even with those three things that I don’t like about the application, I still give this application two thumbs up. Remember, the application is free for the next few days so it would be a very good idea to go download it right now. Give it a try and post a comment letting the rest of us know what you think of it.
A big thank you goes to the Technomadia Crew for telling me about this application!
HearPlanet Website: http://www.hearplanet.com/
Image Courtesy of HearPlanet
Wow… That is pretty awesome, thanks for the review and the link. It is now on my iPhone. You rock.
Thanks for the stellar review, Terry! And for the great use of the application.
I definitely agree with #2 – as a hear impaired person myself, I don’t get much use out of audio content and prefer reading. It would be nice to strike a balance.
And for number 3.. search in San Francisco for ‘Bay Bridge’ and look at the content for SST. This is our partner here in SF that got us the super cool double decker bus for the launch. You’ll start to see where we’re going with the content and partnering with it. We have a bunch of voiced premium content in the SF area, and we’re adding more daily. User generated is also in the cards. We only launched a couple weeks ago.. getting wikipedia content digitized was the quickest (and cheapest way) for an unfunded start-up to get a good start on the concept to launch. The beauty is, as new content comes online, it’ll just appear in your App.
There’s lots more coming..
I think you’ll continue to love it.
HearPlanet is missing a few key things (like maps), but they are certainly coming. The basic concept though is fabulous, and it is certainly fun to play with even in the current state.
Awesome review!!