KrokApp

KrokApp – personal audio guide for Belarus

KrokApp is an IT-platform, which allows hear interesting facts, practical information and useful hints while walking on the streets. KrokApp transforms a country to a big “smart house”: understandable, dynamic and modern.

Now through the mobile program KrokApp you can listen information about more than 50 Belarusian cities. The content is available on three languages: English, Belarusian, and Russian. A prototype for Czech and Chinese languages is already developed. Content providers actively add content on the general Big Data server krokapp.com, which immediately gives admission to electronic data to all users.

The KrokApp IT-platform is opened for improvement and development by programmers and for filling by useful data from historians, professional guides, touristic centers, local regional ethnographers, museums and admirers.

Common user case

Tourist John makes a transfer from train to plane in Minsk. He has 10-20 free hours. KrokApp offers him a certain quantity of points for visiting according to the certain quantity of free hours. Additionally, if John marks wish to eat and to buy something, KrokApp will correct the route accordingly to this.

The problem, which is being solved

There are 110 cities in Belarus. The quantity of cities about which can be known via mobile programs (not audio guides), which are placed in Google Play mobile programs shop: up to 20. There are less than 10 mobile programs with audio content on big cities of Belarus. There is no program, which would collect and easily present historical and cultural information about cities of Belarus. In addition, it should be noted that there are more than 27 000 residential places in Belarus, about which it could be told by modern means to larger auditory – foreign tourists, inhabitants of cities and inhabitants of residential places themselves.

According to a survey of random passers – only 1 from 20 surveyed could name places of interest that are located not in one city but at least in 5 different residential places.

Social effect

Provision of quality service and representation of cities and places to foreigners.

Provision of interest in heritage of Belarusian culture of local inhabitants of cities and other residential places.

Advertising and promotion of little-known regional objects of cultural and historical value.

Raising of level of national identity of the inhabitants of Belarus.

Attracting attention to objects of cultural and historical value, which are in emergency (objects of architecture)

Successful events in Project’s life

Working prototype of the mobile app was created. It was published for free download in Google Play: goo.gl/v5RRTu

Online platform of project that possesses different domains was created: krokapp.by, krokam.by, krokapp.com, krokam.com.

Five languages are available: Belarusian, Russian, English, Czech, Chinese.

KrokApp may tell about 50 cities of Belarus in national language.

KrokApp won the nomination “Regional programs” in contest of social projects Social Weekend 8.

KrokApp was described in news media: «Наука», «СБ:Беларусь сегодня», TUT.by, and on the TV «Главный эфир» Беларусь-1, other newspapers.

KrokApp is available to contact via social networks – Vkontakte and Facebook.

Plans for development

Add information about all 27000 residential places

Adapt the content to foreign languages

Implement automatic switch on of audio files while passing by a heritage object

Make contacts with professional historians, guides, ethnographers for filling the database with content of high quality

Create additional possibility to earn for guides via KrokApp

Develop KrokApp for iOS

The team of the project consists of employees of Speech synthesis and speech recognition laboratory of National academy of sciences of Belarus. Content is reviewed by specialists from Institute of History of National academy of sciences of Belarus.