Coastal Past – making military history accessible digitally

Coastal Past is a project to develop and promote the coastal regions of Sweden, Finland and Åland – the autonomous, Swedish-speaking islands in between. Over three years, it brought to life military history sites on a number of islands in the Swedish and Finnish archipelagos.

Challenge

One of the goals of the three-year project, "Defence Arch – Stories of the Coastal Past", was to create rich, story-driven content to share digitally, giving visitors a better experience of the many historical treasures scattered around the archipelago.

As some of the sites are remote, mobile coverage is often poor, so the solution also had to work offline.

The project was large and wide-ranging, so it was important to integrate its existing visual identity into the guides. Defence Arch also wanted to offer content in several languages and use film to tell the many fascinating stories connected with the area.

Solution

Together with the project's partners, we created a new app called Coastal Past. Defence Arch was short of time, so we moved efficiently from idea to a first version of the app within a few months.

As there is limited connectivity in the area, it's a big advantage that the guides in the app also work offline.

Short films were made especially for the app, enriching the visit with exciting stories. Beautifully illustrated maps give the app its own distinctive character.

The project was funded by Interreg, the EU programme for cross-border cooperation.

This really works! Similar apps I've seen before haven't been as practical or easy to use – well done!

Hanna Yliatalo, Project Manager, Defence Arch