Clio App puts Local History on a National Stage

App developed by UMKC history professor now includes immersive virtual tours
Student enjoying a walking tour using Clio

Imagine if all you could discover the history behind buildings and other landmarks as you move through a city, or with the touch of a button, you could experience a guided walking tour that included first-hand accounts. Thanks to the work of over 500 museums, historical societies, universities, libraries and other organizations around the country, that’s now a possibility in the free mobile application, Clio.

“Clio picks up your location when you're in the app,” said David Trowbridge, a professor of history at UMKC and the app’s developer. “There's an arrow that will guide you and tell you how many feet you need to go. You can take a walking tour, browse nearby landmarks or even create and save your own itinerary based on a growing library of over 35,000 landmarks throughout the U.S.”

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David Trowbridge, developer of Clio

Clio began as a local history project at Marshall University, where Trowbridge was teaching at the time.

“I was just trying to figure out a way to really reach my students,” Trowbridge said. “They had a very strong sense of place, of things in their hometown, things in their county. So, I said ‘Let's start with that. Tell me the history of a place that matters to you.’”

Students embraced the challenge, and before long, draft articles that began with online research inspired students to visit libraries and archives, make phone calls, and record interviews of people in their community.

“When students found one source, it led them to another and they cared so deeply about getting the history right that they often edit their Clio entries after the semester ends,” Trowbridge said. “Can you imagine a school project you want to keep working on the project when the class is over?”

Eventually the project outgrew his technology skills, but Trowbridge and his students wanted to keep it going.

“At that time, I barely used a smart phone, but when I saw the way my students dug in to the project, I knew I had to keep building,” he said.

Trowbridge formed a non-profit so that Clio would always be free and open, and soon, what began as a class project turned into a website and app used by other historians to share the history of their communities. He named the platform Clio in honor of the ancient muse of history. Funded by donations and grants, the app grew from the entries of one class to more than 38,000 entries all across the nation, including 1,400 walking tours that allow users to experience the history around them in real time. No cell phone to download the app? No problem. Anyone with internet access can browse the entries in a web browser as well.

As museums and historical sites around the country were working to deliver their experience in a virtual world, Trowbridge worked to build a free platform that was intentionally designed for museums and sites.

“I looked at the virtual tours that were being created during the pandemic, and they were pretty good,” Trowbridge said, “but I knew we could build something a little better that could work both virtually and in-person.” The solution was a 360° immersive experience, complete with museum maps and interactive content that allowed you to see extra materials and videos from museum experts, something you do not always experience at museums when you visit in-person. Trowbridge uses a LiDAR scanner connected to a 360° camera to build an interactive map and then records and embeds text, video, photos and links related to each artifact and exhibit.

Even after this huge addition to the app, Trowbridge isn’t going to stop there. In addition to expanding into STEM and Art exhibits, next steps for Clio include geofencing, so users can get push notifications about entries when they’re out and about on vacation or in their hometown.

“One of the major points is the serendipity factor,” Trowbridge said. “You can’t search on Google for what you don’t know. It works a lot better if you just open up the app and it shows you what's nearby.”

If you are interested in exploring Clio for yourself, it is available in app stores and online at theclio.com.


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