16 October 2007

Walkie Talkie

Soundmap Walks of London

Digdigdigdigdig. Nee-naw nee-naw. Toot-toot. Oigetoutathewayouwanka.

Such are the sounds of London.

Thankfully, one clever team of urbanites has had the sense to make some better ones. Soundmap produces downloadable audio walks of London using narrators like Robert Elms and Irma Kurtz as tour guides, along with music, sound effects and interviews with locals to create informative, off-beat walks.

Tours of the Kings Road, Camden Town and Soho come with instructions about where to start and end, and what to look at along the way. You’ll learn plenty; it’s like employing a physical tour guide, without needing to follow a pack of camera-wielding, besneakered piddlers (sorry, tourists) like a sheep.

Tours of Brixton and Brick Lane are in the pipeline.

And they won’t even have to dig up the roads for that.

Available online at soundmap.co.uk.