Sense in the City Sydney is the first and only travel podcast based in, and focussed on the Sydney experience.
Designed as an ‘evergreen’ multi-sensory guide to the city, the podcast is the first step to a multi-channel augmented reality journey through the times, spaces and characters of the city.
Origin Story – Proof of Concept
The CoVid pandemic was a catalyst for many industries. Practices and processes that had not changed for decades were thrown into question as people’s mobility was restricted and things that had been taken for granted were postponed or cancelled or prohibited.
Meanwhile, people turned to technology for solutions. At the height of the lock-downs and disruption, we launched the Sense in the City – Sydney podcast, partly as a way for people to explore the city vicariously from home.
We chose audio, because we wanted to use the ambient sounds of the city to create a richer experience. Within the confines of lock-down, we recorded the podcast in-situ to give a sense of place and time.
There’s another reason we chose audio. No matter where you are in your journey – dreaming, planning, visiting, re-living… you can listen, even while doing something else.
- Standing in your kitchen, cutting leeks for soup in the middle of a London winter, listening…
- Building your Pinterest board, playing with your itinerary, adding ‘Must Dos’, listening…
- Easing your seat back for a 19 hour flight to the other side of the world, listening…
- Standing at 33° 51′ 7.9992” S – 151° 12′ 38.0016” E looking east, listening…
- Still buzzing, 3 months after returning home, walking the dog, listening…
Reboot – Mixed Reality Travel Beta
Sense in the City Sydney is not just a podcast.
Each podcast episode is anchored to a place. These places are mapped. Each episode is designed to augment the experience of the space or place. Rather than a prescriptive tour, the content can be listened to at any time in any order.
Open the map, find the nearest content, experience the place with an extra level of context and insight. Be transported backwards or forwards in time through stories and spatial sounds.
Coming soon… Sense in the City Sydney – the Game.
Perhaps you just want to sit on a clifftop somewhere between Bondi and Bronte, look out to sea and contemplate the vastness of the Pacific. But maybe, you want to unlock hidden levels to Sydney the experience.
For those digital natives who have grown up with gamification, the game rewards those who pay particular attention to the stories told by Sydney’s insiders and characters. The secrets of the ‘Emerald City’ revealed in a modern scavenger hunt with a difference.
Sense in the City Sydney, the Game has already been prototyped, and adds another layer of engagement and stickiness to the platform.
And then… Mixed Reality becomes Mass-Market
It’s no longer too hard to imagine. Instead of your head down, looking at your phone screen rather than up and out at the splendour of the Blue Mountains, you will look up and straight ahead through clear glasses… the route of Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth in dotted footprints in a heads-up display.. Or the route of the Tank Stream superimposed over modern day Sydney.
We are working with augmented, mixed and virtual reality partners to overlay content from different times and cultural perspectives for the next generation of travellers.
But even then.. Even when the goggles become second-nature. The audio, the spatial sound will still be relevant, perhaps central to the experience.
Back to Reality
There is only one travel podcast based in, and focussed on the Sydney experience – Sense in the City – Sydney.
We are looking for partners who want to:
- Help increase the distribution & audience of Sense in the City – Sydney.
- Offer rewards to the Sense in the City – Sydney community.
- Promote products and services to the Sense in the City community.
- Leverage the Sense in the City – Sydney platform.
- Co-Create content and experiences for Sense in the City – Sydney
- Provide technology solutions that augment the experience.
- Extend the Sense in the City experience beyond Sydney.