10/24/2012 7:49:25 PM

October 24, 2012

Mobile and online users can now travel through 'Toronto in Time'

Available as of today, "Toronto in Time" is a free mobile app for iOS (Apple) and Android that highlights the history of Toronto through "then and now" photos, slideshows, trails and historical stories for more than 150 sites.

Through Toronto in Time, one can discover the story of the Toronto club that hosted the Rolling Stones, U2 and Marilyn Monroe; learn where soldiers of the War of 1812 lie buried; stand on the site of a 17th-century First Nations village; and much more.

Users can also meet a cast of characters that includes the inventors, artists, entrepreneurs, bank robbers, visionaries and dreamers who have enriched Toronto's history.

"Toronto in Time makes Toronto's history immediate and interactive," said Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 37 Scarborough Centre), Chair of the City's Economic Development Committee. "It brings history alive and enables users to compare the place where they are standing with what it looked like decades ago. It is a great tool for students, visitors and Torontonians alike."

“History is at its most interesting when we understand its relevance to the present,” said Anthony Wilson-Smith, President of the Historica-Dominion Institute. “This will help anyone who uses it to see the direct link between the Toronto of yesterday and how it is still reflected today.”

Users of the app can access geolocation data to find the sites of stories closest to them marked on an easy-to-read map, filter stories by theme or neighbourhood, or follow curated walking trails. Each story includes a photo gallery or a unique then-and-now photo feature that shows the present site dissolving into its past.

Users without a mobile device can also discover all the features of Toronto in Time online at http://citiesintime.ca/toronto/. An online demonstration of how to use the mobile application can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/51236694.

This project is a partnership of the Historica-Dominion Institute, the City of Toronto's Museum Services, and Heritage Toronto.

Toronto in Time is the second app in the “Cities in Time” series. The series launched with Vancouver in Time in the fall of 2011.

Funding for this project has also been provided by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports, and the Department of Canadian Heritage. "Toronto in Time" is a legacy project of Toronto's War of 1812 Bicentennial Commemoration.