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No. 3 · Places · iOS and Android

kierie

A few short moments about the place where you stand: what is happening now, what is coming this week, and what there is to know about it.

Why kierie? A kierie is a walking stick: something you take along when you go and look around. Until version 1.0.2 the app was called Hierzo.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play
kierie's Now tab in dark mode
kierie's Now tab in the Jordaan, Amsterdam, in light mode
Ingredients

Three questions about where you are

Now is what is going on right here, or starts within two hours: the bridge that opens in five minutes, rain at 14:20, the market that is on until six, the street you are standing in.

Later is what is coming this week, day by day: the space station flying over tonight, a meteor shower, a street party on Saturday, the autumn holiday in your region.

Discover is for curiosity: how old the houses are, who your street is named after, what this land was in 1500, the oldest tree nearby, the birds that are special this month. Street cards show archive photos of how the street used to look.

You pick the topics. Within a topic you can switch kinds of card on or off, so a bird lover gets more birds and a history buff more history.

Who it's for

What stood here?

The history lover

Walks old town centres and visits memorials and museums. kierie tells them the house on the corner dates from 1624 and was standing in the Rampjaar of 1672, who the street is named after, and that a tram ran here until 1957. On the street's page: a photo of the same street in 1904.

  • Old buildings, lost mills, tram lines, hunebeds
  • Memorials, Stolpersteine, museums nearby
  • The moon, planets and meteor showers tonight
What lives here now?

The nature explorer

Cycles with binoculars and cares more for birds than buildings. kierie shows the birds seen far more this month than the rest of the year, says when the radar sees a wave of migrating birds at night, and which trees nearby are turning red.

  • Birds that are special this month
  • Bird migration overhead, from the weather radar
  • Special trees, the season, protected nature
What's on?

The one who's always out

Hates missing things. Now shows what is happening within the next two hours; Later shows the market tomorrow, the matches in the hall down the road on Saturday, and the Starlink train flying over tonight.

  • Markets, street parties, matches
  • The ISS and Starlink trains, with the time to look up
  • Rain on the way, at the minute
What is this place?

The newcomer

Just moved to Delft. kierie says the new street lies 1.2 m below sea level on peat, why it is called what it is called, which bridge on the way opens in ten minutes, and which bus stop is skipped this week.

  • Height, soil and how this land was made
  • Bridges, roadworks and bus stops nearby
  • Swimming spots in summer, air quality when it is bad
What do we do on Saturday?

The family day-planner

Two kids, six and nine. kierie shows the nearest playgrounds and petting farms, when the autumn holiday starts in the region, a hunebed or a windmill worth the trip, and the evening the space station crosses the sky.

  • Playgrounds and petting farms nearby
  • School holidays for your region
  • Things to go and see, with directions

These five are made up, but they decide what kierie shows. Every kind of card has to mean something to at least one of them, or it goes.

A look inside

The Now tab in the Jordaan, Amsterdam: what is happening there now (light mode)
Now: what is happening here
The Later tab: what is coming, day by day (light mode)
Later: what is coming today and this week
An opened card on the Discover tab (light mode)
Open a card for the whole story
More info on a card: what it is about, and its sources with their licences in plain words (light mode)
Every card says where it comes from

Shown in English with sample cards. kierie also speaks Dutch.

What we decided not to do

  • No accounts: you never sign in
  • No analytics, not even counts of which cards people use
  • No ads and no data sold or shared
  • No posts from other users: that would need accounts
  • No exact spots of rare species, no data about living people, no labels on single homes

How it works

1 · Open data

Public Dutch sources

Only sources whose licence allows it, each one credited. All sources

2 · Our servers, in the Netherlands

Cards made ahead of time

For every area of the country, in Dutch and English. Everyone in the same area gets the same cards.

3 · Your phone

Picks what fits you

Knows where you are and keeps it to itself. It chooses what is near, what is now and what is in your topics.

The only thing your phone sends is the name of its area.

Stored on our servers
  • The cards for each area
  • Drawings, maps and photos for the cards

All public data. Nothing about who reads it.

Stored on your phone
  • Language, topics and kinds of card
  • Cards you save
  • With notifications on: the last place shown, and notices already sent

Never sent anywhere. Deleting the app deletes it.

Stored nowhere
  • Your location or route
  • An account, a device ID or a push token
  • Analytics of what you read

The server sees your IP address and the area's name, like any web server. We don't keep that to follow anyone. Privacy

Because the cards are made ahead of time, the app is fast and needs no server that knows who you are. The trade-off is honest: the place is never more exact than "within this area", and some cards are a few minutes old.

Get kierie

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Free, for all of the Netherlands; other countries follow later. Ideas or a card that's wrong? hello@blauwtoffie.nl

Privacy · Sources and credits