Self-guided audio walking tours in New York

How it works

1. 1Go to where the walk begins. It is a real route through a real neighbourhood.
2. 2It follows you. Each part plays when you reach the place it is about. There is no timer.
3. 3The phone stays in your pocket. Directions come through the audio.

The standard

We go looking for the story a place is actually about and walk you to where it happened. Every claim is checked against the record, then checked again by someone trying to prove it wrong. The narrators are synthetic voices, cast and directed for each walk. The judgment behind every word is ours.

Walks to start with

• Lower Manhattan Nobody Believed It Would Stand Bought with a bribe, strung with faked wire, and proved safe by 21 elephants. 39 min · 1.5 mi
• Upper West Side The Village Under the Lawn Before the park, this was New York's largest known community of Black landowners. 45 min · 1.9 mi

9 more New York walks are in the app.

Questions

How many audio walks are there in New York?

11, running from 22 to 47 minutes. Each is a real route through one neighbourhood, and the story plays as you reach the place it is about.

Do I need a connection during a walk?

No. The walk is on the phone before you start. It uses your location for one thing, to know which corner you have reached.

Is the narrator a real person?

The narrators are synthetic voices, cast and directed for each walk. The research, the writing and the judgment about what belongs in a walk are done by people.

Is the history checked?

Yes. Every claim is checked against the record before a walk ships, then attacked by a second pass whose job is to prove it wrong. Where the record runs out, the narration says so.

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