The City of Lincoln Council introduced on Tuesday a new website designed to showcase Lincoln’s heritage from prehistoric times through to the present day. Five children from Monk’s Abbey Primary School joined together at the Arboretum to demonstrate the mobile version of the website called Heritage Connect.
Children talked with local reporters, photographers and businessmen about what they learned and loved about the website.
“Heritage Connect is a website that connects people with places. It gives them an understanding of how a place has developed into its current character over time, and why it functions the way it does today,” said Adam Partington, Townscape Character Projects Manager at the City of Lincoln Council.
Henry Oates can't take his eyes off the phone, even as the groups of children talk to teachers and reporters.
“This unique website and smartphone application will be used by people from all walks of life – from local tourism organisations providing information to visitors to the historic city, to property developers, who can use it to understand the area and inform their planning proposals,” said David Walsh from the English Heritage.
“Heritage Connect Lincoln will offer both local people and visitors a new way of exploring Lincoln’s history and learning about how the city has developed over time,” said Emma Sayer, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands.
Veronika Redeva and Jasmin Abazi are eager to share what they know about the site with everyone attending.
Heritage Connect as viewed from a smartphone.
“The website uses W3C Geolocation to suggest points of interest that are close to your current location, such as monuments and Character Areas. It is unique in that it uses open standards such as GeoJSON and Google Maps for storing, delivering and presenting geospatial information,” said Jeff Hume, the Director of the Web development company A Recipe For Success that built Heritage Connect.
Shaded by the giant lion statue in the Arboretum the children from Monk’s Abbey Primary School began to explain to each other, photographers, reporters and even creators what they have learned from the site. Many of the children learned key events in Lincoln history and were able to share their knowledge with their fellow schoolmates.
The mobile version of Heritage Connect includes different maps that are easy to navigate with a simple flick of the fingers.
