We are very happy to announce that walk · listen · create has taken responsibility of placecloud.io, a platform for creating and consuming short location-based podcasts, viewpoints.

Placecloud was started a few years ago, by our good friend George. Location-based podcasts, viewpoints, augmented through the immersive Google Streetview. 
You might have seen mention of Placecloud, you might have tried out the platform yourself, or you might have crossed paths with George at one of our events.
George’s objective was always to work towards making Placecloud commercially viable. Yet this has been proven difficult, in a fairly crowded niche market, in a space where the big boys mostly only succeed because they have bucketloads of money to spend on marketing, while ‘success’, in this context, really only means large numbers of users, not financial viability.

After three years, George decided, in December last year, to take a step back and, eventually, with the team at walk · listen · create, we decided we could take Placecloud forward, not as a for-profit, but still with the aim of making Placecloud self-sustainable.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve worked hard at implementing a number of changes to Placecloud. The central premise remains the same:

Placecloud maps location-based podcasts, viewpoints, from experts in a range of fields, unlocking the hidden stories that are all around us.

If you’ve experimented with Placecloud in the past, take a look at the long list of adjustments, or just give Placecloud a try.
The two biggest changes we’ve implemented are this:

• Financial support is now tip-based; You can tip creators with the amount of your choosing. We take 30% to cover expenses and to keep the platform afloat, while 70% goes to the creators.
• Everyone can now submit a viewpoint, but we visually distinguish contributions by experts.

we invite you to try out Placecloud yourself. You can do some armchair surfing, or you can take Placecloud for a walk on your phone (though, in fairness, the vast majority of the content currently ‘on’ Placecloud is in and around London). Or, you could go wild and start adding your own content.
In case of the latter, you’d be joining about 100 existing, and distinguished, contributors to Placecloud.

You might realise that Placecloud has some resemblance to platforms like Echoes, Guidemate, Soundtrails, and many of the applications that you can use to make your own soundwalk. What makes Placecloud different is that all content is available, in principle, as a collective compendium of knowledge, from which anyone can abstract their own selection, and that there’s a unique tie-in with Google Streetview, creating an immersive experience, even if you’re not visiting the location in question, in person.

Go on, go check out Placecloud. And let us know what you think.