Culture Around The Corner And Its Location-Based Application

Martijn Arts, ZaPPWeRK Creative Web Development, The Netherlands
Sophie Schoonhoven, ZaPPWeRK Creative Webdevelopment, The Netherlands
http://www.cultuurindebuurt.nl

Session: Handhelds

The Netherlands is a relatively small country. Museums and cultural institutions are located within a small distance of each other. Not just Amsterdam but the whole country has a high density of art & culture. This is unique worldwide. But in spite of the highly concentrated offerings of museums, monuments and theatres in the Netherlands, the Dutch seldom are aware that there is a cultural location or event close to their home or office. They just pass it everyday without noticing.

ZaPPWeRK initiated Culture around the Corner to make people more aware of art/culture in their surroundings. Via this location-based service, information about the nearest place of interest is sent to users and received by mobile phone, PDA or Laptop. Users do not need to enter their locations: this is detected automatically.

This non-profit project resulted in a national cultural platform in which the Netherlands Department for Conservation, the Netherlands Museums Association and the National Service for Archaeological Heritage take part. Existing techniques are combined in a creative way. Up till now location based services were not very common in the Netherlands.

The goal of the project is to achieve and maintain a public database in which all Dutch cultural locations are stored. This information is available without charge, for cultural and educational purposes. Technology partners can use this platform in order to research and develop new location-based services. All devices and all techniques will be integrated, connected and tested. The functionalities will be made available for cultural partners.