This App Will Take You Places – Literally

Situation #1: You're walking down a local street and you spot an interesting statue, an old bridge or a glimpse of a great view through two buildings. You make a mental note to look it up, to find out the back story… but your day goes on and you never follow up.
Situation #2: You have a dozen emails to answer, you just missed a call, you don't know what time your bus is arriving and if you don’t catch it, you'll be late. Again. You fly down the street, head buried in your phone screen the entire time.
Does one of these scenarios sound familiar? Or maybe both, depending on the day?
Imagine if there was a little voice in your ear, bringing you back to the moment, urging you to look around and appreciate the urban landscape passing you by. Detour, a new app scheduled for release in the Bay Area later this year, looks like it could do just that. Packed full of location-aware audio walks, the app lets you leave your phone in your pocket as you explore – so you can face out instead of  looking down. The varied tours will come from all sorts of voices – writers, radio producers, filmmakers and tour-guides, alike – to give history and backstory, and lead you off the metaphorical beaten track.
Don't have the time to be a 24/7 tourist right now? The app lets you stop and start – so you can discover on your own schedule. Though, if you've got a serious travel bug and want to check things out with a friend or two, the audio syncs perfectly between devices, meaning you can go on group walks – without having to fork out for an expensive guide. Detour's reach will expand to more cities in 2015.
But even before you can download the app – take your own "Detour." Next time you're walking down the street, look up, look around– and pique your curiosity about the city you live in.

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