Innovative new app from History SA

The Adelaidia app, developed by History SA, is a unique combination of scholarly content and real-life connections to Adelaide’s history. It allows people to interact in a range of ways from browsing historical topics online, contributing personal memories, uploading historic images through to creating new records of Adelaide as it is today, preserved as tomorrow’s history.

Developed as part of a larger online project (the SA History Hub), Adelaidia creates new ways for people to explore the history of Adelaide. The website is built with the latest responsive design technology and scales down perfectly for mobile devices. The app pulls content from the website, in a user friendly and engaging mobile format that enhances the experience even further. The online information is geo-tagged so that the mobile app allows users to engage with the many fascinating stories as they explore the city of Adelaide on foot. It includes an augmented reality viewer that enables users to browse Adelaide’s people, places, streets and things through their in-device cameras. Users also have the ability to contribute comments, photos and stories through the app.

Adelaidia went live on Monday 16 December 2013, with the official launch and release in Android in 2014. It is a work in progress and always will be as both the app and website encourage user contributions. History SA will also continue to add to the historical content available in Adelaidia as staff undertake further research and continue working on the digitisation of South Australia’s social history collections. Several walking tours for the app are currently under development, drawing together historical content around a range of themes and locations.

The app was shortlisted in 2014 for the GTR Mobile App Innovation for Government & Public Sector Award – its listing recognising its innovative nature and the efficiency of its information delivery.

History in the making, Adelaidia is the first phase of History SA’s new online platform. As the SA History Hub site develops so too will the potential for further apps and explorations of South Australia’s rich social history.

More information about downloading the app and Adelaidia in general can be accessed here.