By Amy Robertson

The first Android application by 7th Floor Media, an educational web development team part of SFU Lifelong Learning, is generating buzz in Toronto.

Toronto in Time, a free educational application inspired by its Vancouver counterpart, launched October 24, 2012, for Android and iOS.

The application features 150 location-based stories about the city of Toronto’s history. Users can follow curated walking trails, “meet” historical characters that shaped Toronto’s history, and look at photos from both the past and present. Geo-location data allows users to find the stories closest to them using a map.

"Toronto in Time makes Toronto's history immediate and interactive," said Councillor Michael Thompson, the chair of Toronto’s Economic Development Committee. " It is a great tool for students, visitors, and Torontonians alike."

Users without a mobile device can see the application online. A video demonstration of how to use the mobile application is also available.

The application was inspired by Vancouver in Time, a similar, but smaller application that 7th Floor Media launched in 2011 in partnership with Historica-Dominion Institute. There are links to The Canadian Encyclopedia, part of Historica-Dominion, throughout both applications.

“Vancouver in Time came out of a brainstorming session with James Marsh, the editor-in chief of the Canadian Encyclopedia,” said Noni Mate, 7th Floor Media’s director. “We were looking for new ways to make history exciting and accessible, and developing an app that uncovered stories from our city, taking you visually from the present into the past, jumped out at us.”

Marsh liked Vancouver in Time so much he pitched it in his home city of Toronto. Historica-Dominion Institute, the City of Toronto's Museum Services, Heritage Toronto, and 7th Floor Media partnered to create the application.

The 7th Floor Media team hopes to expand the application series to other Canadian cities. It is in the process of developing Vancouver in Time, which originally released only for iOS, for Android users.

Several screenshots of Toronto in Time are available on Flickr.