Story Hunter explores notable locations in Vienna

Barbara Haider, Raphaela Brandner und Majeed El Chemor created the Story Hunter smartphone app to allow users to explore Vienna in a unique way. Stories are told at special places and are activated whenever the user is close enough to the respective location. Users can also collect badges and share them on Facebook, where they can also be used for prize drawings. This way, you aren’t simply going on a walk through a city, but are also playing a game.

The app creators are targeting locals and also tourists who visit Vienna. The intended age group is primarily users between 18 and 30. “A streamlined version of the app (just a few selected categories) could also be very interesting for schools because it can be used for a kind of Vienna rally,” Barbara Haider, who is responsible for the concept and design, told futurezone.

Eight categories
There are currently eight categories to chose from, including notable places, art, legends and literature. There are three to eight special locations in Vienna in each category that form a route together. Users can find their way with an integrated map. “We offer our users quick and perhaps not so well known but interesting facts about Vienna, and let them get to know the city better in this way,” Haider said. “Motivated users can earn badges and thereby have a chance to win vouchers for various restaurants and museums that cooperate with Story Hunter.”

The idea arose because “all of us in the Story Hunter team love Vienna,” Haider said. “But even as locals, we often didn’t know where we should go – it gets boring when you always go to the same restaurants, bars, stores and museums.” So they started looking for unique locations, inside tips and extraordinary places. “Then at some point, we had the idea for the app, because we wanted to share this concept with more people,” Haider said.

Official launch in December
The app will be available for iPhones and Android smartphones and should be available in the respective app stores at the beginning of December. The app will be free. “There will be a limited number of stories that can be expanded through in-app purchases,” Haider explained. And new stories are to be added on a regular basis. Story Hunter will initially be offered in German and English.

Story Hunter also made it into the top ten best apps in the Clash of the Apps competition at this year’s Überall App Kongress convention. A total of 90 projects were submitted.