App Provides Pocket Time Capsule
随身携带时间胶囊
New app called Pivot will let gadget users see old and new images of sites as they walk past. Larry Greenemeier reports
一款名为Pivot的应用可以让使用者看到他们所处之地的过去,就好像随身携带着时间胶囊。
撰文/播音 拉里·格林迈耶(Larry Greenemeier)
翻译 李轩
Imagine being able to instantly see what a location you happen to be at looked like 50, 75, or 100 years ago. A team of app developers wants to use today’s ubiquitous digital camera culture to make such peering into the past possible. The app, called Pivot, will match GPS data from your mobile device with geolocation data tags on images in a database. The system will let you alternate between real-time and archived images of a place with a swipe of your touchscreen.
设想一下:在任何地方你都可以立刻看到此地50、75甚至100年前的样子,你会有什么感受?如今数码照相机已经成为一种普遍存在的文化现象,一个应用开发团队正希望利用相机文化追溯过去。他们将开发一款名为Pivot的应用,可以将你手机的GPS数据与数据库中的地理位置标签相匹配。只需轻轻一触,你便可以在现实与纪录之间来回跳转。
Two Palestinian-Americans are developing Pivot. One has a background in public policy and the other in cultural anthropology. The app will focus on two geographic locations to start: Historic Palestine and Boston, Mass. An Israeli nonprofit is helping the project by sharing its database of historic photos.
Pivot由两个巴勒斯坦裔美国人开发。其中一个人拥有公共政策学背景,而另一个人则拥有文化人类学背景。这款应用将最先专注于历史上的巴勒斯坦与波士顿。一个以色列非营利组织正在为这个项目提供历史相片的数据库。
Pivot’s developers plan to roll out a beta version shortly, with a more complete version of the app available by the end of the year. It’s likely that users will receive a push notification to their device when they are near a site that can already be viewed through Pivot. Assuming all goes as planned it’ll be like carrying a time capsule in your pocket.
Pivot的开发者计划不久发布一个测试版,而正式版将在今年年底之前发布。当使用者位于Pivot数据库中存在的地点时,很可能会收到来自应用的推送。如果一切进展顺利,你就好像随身携带了一个时间胶囊。