The Streets of Jerusalem – Interactive Video Project

The Streets of Jerusalem was intended to be the first in a series of web and mobile applications that would transform the way travelers learn about, explore, and ultimately spend money in a foreign city. More than a city guide, cultural blog or Google Map, the project aimed to be an immersive interactive multimedia experience where visitors could explore the alleyways and history of the city by “virtually” walking it.

The Streets of Jerusalem was designed to integrate streaming video, advertising and social media, organized around a specially created map with clickable stops along the way, each opening a window with information, images, links, user reviews and, in many cases, professionally produced video. Booking a table at a restaurant or a night in a hotel would be integrated as well. The business model was to sell advertising and sponsorships, charge local businesses for video production, and take a percentage of any bookings conducted through the site.

Once the pilot was proven in Jerusalem, the project was intended to expand to other cities in Israel and, through a franchise model, to cities around the world.

Here are a couple of samples from the prototype. First, an image of what one of the main maps would look like (this is only an example, streets are not accurate):

Clicking on one of the two pushpins would play the following videos:

Tal Bagels

German Colony history and architecture

Project members included Brian Blum, Lisa Barkan, Shmuel Hoffman and Yoni Raveh.