OldView: History Photo Travel

RE-LIVE A MOMENT

OldView allows historical images to be viewed on your device from the precise location they were originally taken. It also allows anyone to easily upload their own precious historical images of interest to instantly share with friends, family and the world.

It’s a platform for viewing geo-tagged and digitised historical images, through any mobile device, at the user’s convenience. It’s also a platform for allowing hard copy historical images to be digitised, stored, shared and kept alive for family for ever.

Why OldView?

The world's earliest surviving photograph was taken in France in 1827. Since then our perpetually changing world has been documented by countless photographs. It wasn’t until 1991 that Kodak unveiled the first commercially available digital camera. Some 164 years of hard copy photographs.

In the 164 years after the invention of a camera, our world can be said to have dramatically changed more than the 164,000 years before it. These changes are well documented with hard-copy photographs, where most of these pictures still live in shoeboxes in our cupboards, or distributed in various online libraries that are not easily accessed.

OldView provides a platform from which these images can be brought to life and shared with the world, from the precise location that they were originally taken.

The OldView User

Imagine travelling the globe, and from every destination you explore, being advised by the OldView App, where a historical photograph had been previously taken near to you, and subsequently viewing that image on your mobile device whilst standing in the precise location it was taken. Having the opportunity to explore the photograph on your mobile device, whilst comparing to the present-day view in front of you.

Once registered, the OldView user has the ability to explore a free selection of historical images in close proximity to their current location. Once hooked, the full locational catalogue of OldView images can be accessed for a small fee.

OldView also acknowledged the substantial cost of data roaming services whilst overseas, and has subsequently built a planning function in the OldView App. This allows the User to view and cache historical photographs whilst connect to the hotel or café wifi, before exploring your current location without the risk of excess charges.

The OldView Contributor

The majority of hard-copy photographs, taken and collected over the 164 years preceding the digital era, are stored in shoeboxes in cupboards across the globe. Aside from bringing them out at Christmas to share with family, they are seldom viewed and subjected to damage or loss. OldView is providing a platform upon which many of these can be easily uploaded, digitally protected and shared with world – ensuring the images live for ever.

OldView functionality allows a registered Contributor to upload their precious historical images, simply through a mobile device photo of the historical image, or through a scanned image on a desktop computer. There are various means for assisting in providing the location of the original photograph, and any historical information about it (e.g. circa, location, details …). Aside from the contribution to the OldView database for the registered User membership to access, the Contributor has the ability to share these images with their loved-ones at no cost, for ever.

Furthermore, the Contributor will receive Likes and Comments from User’s around the world about any specific images that they have uploaded to the OldView database. Validation that those shoe-boxed photographs are now being appreciated by the world.