Deep Time Walk

Step back in time and discover a history of the living Earth with the award-winning Deep Time Walk. Walk 4.6km through 4.6bn years of Earth history, learn about key concepts from Earth’s evolution and experience a unique perspective of deep time.

Designed using appropriate technology that encourages you to focus away from the digital screen and connect with the natural world around you, the Deep Time Walk calculates your speed and distance as you walk, enabling you to learn about key events from Earth history.

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Walk Through Time
Get outdoors to participate in a 4.6km Deep Time Walk anywhere in the world. As you walk at a rate of 1 million years per meter, you journey across Earth’s 4.6bn geological timeline. As you journey across time, a dramatized narrative between a scientist and philosopher provide different perspectives on how Earth formed. For those not able to walk, a Mobility-Assist mode is available.

Learn Earth History
The narration for the walk is based on the latest scientific evidence about how our planet evolved over the vast expanse of geological time. At the start of the walk, you learn about the accretion of the Earth from a disc of rocky debris and how our moon formed, you meet volcanoes and encounter the immense meteorites of the Late Heavy Bombardment. Later in the walk, you hear about key events such as the first appearance of photosynthesis, The Great Oxidation, the evolution of the first nucleated cells, and the appearance of multicellular life. A time-contextual glossary is available to look up key concepts.

Experience Deep Time
The kinetic Deep Time Walk is an embodied experience, bringing the rational and somatic together into a unique learning tool. The last million years are measured using your body, with the final 20cm representing just 200,000 years – roughly the time during which Homo sapiens has been on Earth. The app helps you recognize the long geological processes that have produced the conditions for the evolution of life, understand our common evolutionary history with all life and consider the geological impact of humanity.

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Creative team
A team of experienced professionals has come together to produce the Deep Time Walk Mobile Guide. The script is written by Peter Oswald (ex-playwright in residence at Shakespeare Globe, London) and Dr. Stephan Harding (a collaborator with Earth scientist James Lovelock).

The audio is directed by Jeremy Mortimer (over 200 productions for BBC Radio) and designed by Jo Langton (a BBC Studio Manager), with voices provided by leading actors Paul Hilton (Garrow’s Law, The Bill, Silent Witness), Chipo Chung (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Into the Badlands) and Peter Marinker (Love Actually, Event Horizon, Judge Dredd).

New in 1.1:
– Gaiaphonic Audio Mode,
– Clock-time Remaining Indicator
– Swipe UI gestures
– Slide across the geological timeline
– Streamlined graphics
– Integration of our ‘What’s Next’ portal for positive action (with partners such as Earth Charter, 350.org and Transition Towns)

** Platinum Award Winner of Best Mobile App Summer Awards – Best Designed Mobile App Interface