Impact case study database

The HiddenFlorence App, published as a free app for Apple and Android, is an immersive experience blending academic research, digital media technology, and place-based heritage tourism. The app was developed in collaboration with Calvium Ltd, and in partnership with Florence city authorities, Florence UNESCO office, and Polo Museale della Toscana and the Mus.E civic museums. As an innovation in digital place-making, HiddenFlorence’s impact has been on enhancing methods for the presentation of heritage and cultural sites, improving the quality of tourism-led learning experiences through digital technology, and contributing to urban heritage planning and strategy.

Improving Tourism-led Learning Experiences

Since its first release in 2014, HiddenFlorence has now been downloaded around 12,000 times in over 40 countries. During the period covered by a 2017-8 report it was used in over 7,000 unique sessions, in Florence (2,177) and globally (5,001); 81% of downloads originate from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada, whilst 45% of active user sessions originate in Australia, USA and Canada, with 38% in the UK [5.1]. Since its update in July 2019, the revised app has been downloaded a further 4500 times, and the length of each engagement has increased substantially. The re-launched app has been supported by a social media campaign, via Twitter, Instagram and Airbnb. Project partner networks have helped maximise visibility of the app through Polo Museale della Toscana, Comune di Firenze – UNESCO office, Mus.E, Museo degli Innocenti, and the National Gallery, London. As an example of user engagement a month-long campaign with the National Gallery in August 2020 resulted in over 120,000 impressions and 15,000 views [5.2]. In November 2020, it won the UK App Awards’ “Best Use of VR/AR in an app” award.

In-app feedback indicates user satisfaction at 80% positive. On GooglePlay, the app scores 4.9/5 overall; on Apple iStore, it has a five-star rating. Comments [5.1] include: “[The app] adds fantastic layers of depth to the city. You feel like a detective following faded clues that only you can see” (Phil); “Walking around Firenze with Giovanni gives you a feeling for what it must have been like to live here centuries ago” (Robert). The app also featured in the 2016 Christmas Special of the popular Channel 4 Travel Man series with Richard Ayoade and Hollywood actress Rebel Wilson, broadcasting to an estimated audience of 1.7million [5.3]. Certifying the app’s innovative blend of heritage presentation and augmented reality technology, Wilson comments: “It’s kinda like playing PokemonGo but with historical sites” [5.3]

Enhancing marketing strategies for commercial entities

An indication of the influence of the HiddenFlorence can also be suggested through its impact on the British cosmetics company Lush. Linked to Lush opening its first stand-alone Perfume Library concept store in Florence in November 2019, developers based their own ‘perfumed guide to a city’ on HiddenFlorence: “the reinterpretation of the cityscape to deliberately include the sense of smell as part of Lush's launch of a new concept store and fragrance collection is probably not one of the predicted outcomes of your work on the app but I feel it is a very valuable one.” The guide was an app to work as a treasure hunt with Florentine locations linked to their five newly launched perfumes. Lush repeated this concept for Soho in November 2019 when they launched their perfume collection in London and is now an integrated component of their own app, Lush Labs [5.4].

Contributing to Urban Heritage Site Management Strategy

The locative media research that drives HiddenFlorence has provided transformative cultural impacts in the relationship between visitors and their cities for regional tourist authorities. The Florence UNESCO directorate approached Nevola to work on a new iteration of the app in recognition of its relevance to their “fundamental objective” to focus attention on the “decentralisation of tourism, extending the network of cross-city itineraries to include sites with potential for ulterior development” (The Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence, 19.1.16, pp 76, 81 [5.5]). In 2019 the app was noted as an exemplar of the application of the Management Plan, highlighting its usefulness in moving footfall from overcrowded sites to less well-known areas: “the effectiveness of these tools in redirecting the movement of the intelligent tourist, through informed storytelling and a playful approach to navigation of the city” [5.5]. For Dott. Carlo Francini (Director of Historic Centre of Florence), HiddenFlorence “has opened up completely new ways for us ... We are now looking at other ways in which we can use mobile digital technologies to open the city up to visitors and significantly extend the area … they visit in the city” [ 5.6]. Meanwhile, Nevola is working with five new cities to establish a ‘Hidden Cities’ platform, and has also been approached by Venice, Bologna and Mantua.

Impacting on Presentation of Heritage and Culture

HiddenFlorence’s pioneering use of geo-locative digital media and augmented reality provides a valuable tool for urban storytelling, enhancing the presence of tangible and intangible heritage, and creating cultural value [ 5.7].

The digital reproduction of a 1584 map combined with Google Maps capabilities enables users to explore medieval Florence. Developers Calvium Ltd state: “the juxtaposition of an ancient map with its interactive digital form creates a powerful connection between the past and the present... we envision a long and collaborative journey across multiple cities, spanning a host of universities. Hidden Cities is about academic research and development in combination with public engagement and education.” [5.8]. HiddenFlorence’s six trails offer the cultural heritage of the wider cityscape as a curated experience, introducing micro-histories alongside culture, language and place-based storytelling. Dott. Carlo Francini described this as “a wider perspective of history, heritage and culture of the city to be told to both local residents and to visiting tourists. It makes a curated museum experience of the entire city, and encourages participants to know about this social and cultural ‘alternative’ history of the city. It has changed … the digital ways that we can present these urban histories on a world stage” [ 5.6].

For Nicholas Terpstra, renowned expert on digital historical mapping techniques, “current trends in historical mapping are to … map what at first may seem unmappable – smells, sounds, emotions– and to make … the connections between the early-modern experience of life in the city and the spatial and sensory profiles of that city. A particularly vivid example is the Hidden Florence app ... Geo-location in the app allows users to transport themselves into the streets as they were walked and experienced by ordinary Florentines in the 15th century. Users are thus introduced to the power of neighbourhood and local ties in early modern Florence and can understand how such a small city, physically, could contain so much variety of experience and people. Hidden Florence shows us the neighbourhood rivalries and hierarchies that underlay the spatial organization of the city.” [ 5.9]

Recent new developments have extended the activity of the app’s reach and engagement. HiddenFlorence3D (see above) ], news coverage in the UK and Italy and transformative impacts on local residents’ understanding of their neighbourhood (as documented in a short film, also shared on social media, ‘A neighbourhood story’. As one resident noted “Thank you for doing this. Digitisation will be very important for us and especially for our grandchildren and those who will come after. Because, if there was no such research, the memory really fades very quickly”. [ 5.10]. Meanwhile, a newly funded project is leading to the extension of the format and the creation of HiddenCities for 5 new cities in which close collaboration with local museums and their collections is part of the app design. In 2019 HiddenFlorence was awarded the ‘App prize’ at the Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies, Vienna, a heritage-practitioner focused conference. [ 5.10].