Visit my office in Jersey City and you will immediately notice the best part about our location. (And it ain’t the deli downstairs.)
It is, of course, The View.
The view of Lower Manhattan from Jersey City today...
The spectacular stretch of the Lower Manhattan skyline lies just across the river – so close you can feel the gravitational pull of steel and stone; industry and majesty. For the last few years we have been marking the progress of 1 World Trade Center (the Freedom Tower), which has really accelerated over the past few months. Standing at only about half its intended height of 1,776 feet, the glass building already looks magnificent and ready to soar above it all.
But even with this symbol of American resilience rising, it is easy to look out and in your mind’s eye see the graceful silhouette of the twin towers as they stood before 9/11.
We all have our stories of that tragic day. On the 10th anniversary this weekend, we will pause to remember and honor the thousands of lives lost, the ordinary people who acted extraordinarily in the face of grave danger, the city we love, and, yes, the buildings themselves. An icon of modernity, an architectural exclamation point proclaiming the sheer power of the straight line against the sky.
Ten years ago, mobile technology was a nascent and emerging technology – think Motorola pagers and beepers. There wasn’t an app for this or that. Facebook was just a glimmer in 17-year-old Zuckerberg’s eyes. And the only thing twittering was the birds. So when a passionate New Yorker named Brian August had the idea to preserve the lost views of the World Trade Center back then, he could not have conceived how it would be possible today.
...and the reconstruction of the view from 110 Stories app.
Thankfully, Brian did not give up on his dream. From his rooftop in Brooklyn, he built wire models that outlined the towers against the sky – a humble rendering that was both a reflection of the past and a foreshadowing of what was to come. And when technology advanced, like it always does, Brian knew exactly what to do to take his dream from the rooftop and give it back to everyone of us who is a New Yorker at heart.
Which brings us to today.
The team at Antenna has been truly honored to be a part of the unique mobile app called 110 Stories that is available today on iPhone and Android devices. Actually it’s more of a mobile experience. The app uses augmented reality so that users pointing their phones at Ground Zero from within a 35-mile radius will see the iconic buildings superimposed on the skyline. It is still a humble line drawing – not a big 3-D graphic, and it beautifully and respectfully pays homage to those views we remember, from every angle and from unlimited locations around the city.
But not only can you capture a view of the towers, you can also take a photo, attach a personal story to it, and post it to the companion Web site. Brian hopes to build up a collage of New York stories from the memories conjured up by the lost views of the twin towers from people all around the world. A living history, if you will. A social poem.
110 Stories has been a ten-year obsession for Brian, who gathered together a team of professional development, augmented reality and media experts—all working pro-bono—to make his dream a reality. From i-novation and doPanic’s small teams of app developers, to industry giants Apple and Google (who have been equally enthusiastic about Brian’s vision), to Antenna who came on board to manage the project and conduct the necessary testing to bring it over the finish line on time. Failure to meet the deadline this week was not an option!
The project shows the power of crowd-sourcing to raise money and unite for a common vision, and the unlimited potential of augmented reality, social media and mobile technology to create a whole new kind of life experience that is part art, part science, part memory, and maybe just a little bit magical. Our participation and support of this project allows us to celebrate mobile technology beyond the day-to-day and be a part of something unique and palpably different. And because it was fun!
We would like to acknowledge the tremendous efforts performed by fellow Mobile Masters Jason Wong and Ken Parmelee who project-led and oversaw the testing and QA process. We had a short airstrip to land this project on, but the team delivered in spades.
We encourage all you iPhone and Android users to download the app and try it out. As I noted earlier, we all have a story about 9/11 – and most of us have a story, a memory, or an emotional sketch about the towers before 9/11.
Tell yours.
And flex some social muscle too – spread the word to friends and family on Facebook and Twitter.
On behalf of Antenna and the 110 Stories teams, thanks for your interest and support. And do let us know in the comments below what you think of the app.
Links to more information on 110 Stories:
Read the official press release on the project.
Download iPhone app
Download Android app
Tags: 110 Stories, Antenna, Mobile Apps, Sept. 11, Terri White, The Mobile Beat
