SoundAboutPhilly’s Awesome Audible Tours/Google Maps Mash-up

by Willy Volk on

Recently, we told you about the [murmur] project, an audio archive of the stories of Toronto. It turns out that SoundAboutPhilly is undertaking a similar project for the City of Brotherly Love. SoundAboutPhilly’s free, customizable sound-seeing tours are told by “real” Philadelphians, and provide an insider’s look at the city. Moreover, since it’s mashed with Google Maps, the site lets you plan an interesting, detailed trip from wherever you are.

Featuring dozens of audio clips, SoundAboutPhilly lets people browse by subject (History, Unplugged Philadelphia, Flavorhoods, My Philly, Philly Noir, Once Upon A Nation, Vintage Philadelphia) and even lets users create and upload their own tours. For example, I just finished listening to Aaron’s Haunted/Eerie Philly tour. (The Mütter Museum sounds creepy!)

SoundAboutPhilly allows you to save your favorite tours (and their associated waypoints), so you can create your own personal audio tour/map of the city. Perfect for that upcoming trip, just download all the portions of your custom Philly trip, print your map, and listen to the tours as you explore. If you go by yourself, just don’t get scared when you reach the Edgar Allan Poe house.

Photo of the Day (10/28/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on


I’ve been to Philly about two or three times and have never seen the city from under the Schuykill River bridges like this. Luminous Lens notes after much debate she decided to take her camera outside although there was overcast and came back with two shots. This was one of them and personally I think it’s great. The muted colors and browns in the photo all look really visually attractive here. Even with the slight murky feeling this shot makes me want to see this secret place underneath Philly’s bridges.

Philly Taxi Drivers Protest Use of GPS Tracking Plan

by Adrienne Wilson on

NPR has an audio listen on the taxi situation in Philly, where cab drivers are protesting a plan to place GPS (Global Positioning Systems) in their vehicles. The GPS devices would allow the cab dispatchers to know and pinpoint the exact location of a driver, but the driver’s are saying this is a violation of their privacy.

Hmm… Personally, I think it is a great plan. I don’t catch cabs too often, but it peeves me to high heaven when I call one and wait decades for them to arrive. I start imagining all the stops or personal errands they decided to run in route to picking me up for my very important flight or meeting. (Violation of privacy – ha!) When you phone into the dispatchers it’s as if they are in a whole different world from the drivers. They always say something like this: “Yes, he will be there in five minutes. He said he is nearby.” Sometimes I just want to cough bull sh–, but I always keep my cool. Not to say all cab drivers taking the scenic route to get where they need to be or that they’re not stuck in traffic, but it would do dispatchers a great deal of wonder to be able to say something more specific and a little less generic.

Hope a plan like this works out in Philly for the greater good of people who actually have to get to important places or meetings.