“Brilliant App Reveals What Your Location Looked Like in the Past”: Curbed

this is the very first thing that has ever made me wish I had a smart phone:

Many recent multimedia projects have tried to present a “then and now” look at different cities by mashing up current images of buildings and streetscapes with historical visuals like old film footage, 18th-century paintings, or classic album covers. Now, an app called Pivot wants to do the same but in real time, offering an instant time portal right as you’re walking down the street. Pivot, developed by Boston-based couple Asma Jaber and Sami Jitan, prompts you to raise your phone when you’re at a “pivot” point—and that’s when you’ll see images and videos of what that place looked like from decades or centuries ago.

As profiled in Wired recently, Pivot aims to become a platform for digital historical preservation. Jaber, who enjoyed hearing about her ancestral land of Palestine from her father (who unfortunately passed away in 2012, bringing all his stories with him), wants to help preserve and share cultures and histories that are at the risk of being lost.

more (via Jon Coppage)