A team of Edinburgh academics have created an application that allows smart phone users to 'walk through time'.

Students and professors from the Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) and Edinburgh University have joined forces with EDINA map services to create a programme that offers this experience.

“The great fun is giving it to someone and then taking them to where a street doesn’t exist and say ‘walk’, but they can’t because there’s a new building in the way,” said Dr Chris Speed, reader in the School of Architecture at ECA.

“That is when you get the 'wow' moment. They begin to realise that the world has changed," Speed added.

Based on Google Earth technology, the new application gives users access to maps that date back over 150 years.

While walking along with phone in hand, users can choose to explore long forgotten streets, abandoned walkways and old housing plots which have been replaced by new developments.

Speed told The Journal how the idea for the project arose: “When you open the map application on an iPhone and that blue dot appears, it hits you—it is you.”

This epiphany led to a conversation during an IT Futures Group meeting, hosted by Edinburgh University, where the project was created. It is currently funded by JISC, who aid the innovative use of information and communications technology in education.

Speed suggests any maps could be used in future: modern maps, historic maps, even children's drawings could be explored. 

'Walking Through Time' is a 'web-app' currently being tested on the Apple iPhone and several handsets running the Android operating system. In theory the application should be compatible with any smart phone and further tests, including experiments with the BlackBerry brand, are pending.

There are plans to make the application commercially available, with a full release scheduled within 12 months.

Restrictions preventing the spread of the programme are linked to the government agency in charge of Ordnance Survey maps.

Until these maps are freely available, the prototype application will only be available to higher education students in the Edinburgh area, where 11 maps of the city dating back to 1850 can be accessed. The higher education institutions in the city pay a license which allows them to use the software.

The project has seen increasing press coverage and interest in the programme has been registered abroad. Academics in Italy are exploring the application's potential impact on the tourist industry.