Cities chronicled around the world
Every place has a story.
Lore is a docent in your pocket. Point your camera at a chronicled building, statue, or skyline to reveal its story, the year, the architect, and one fact worth telling.
How it works
Onboarding is the product itself. Three moves, thirty seconds, one story you didn’t know.
Point
Aim your camera at a chronicled building, statue, or skyline. Lore ranks the places nearby and shows what is in front of you, no search box needed.
Reveal
An Amber pin blooms on the real thing. One card: the name, the year, and the one fact worth telling a friend.
Go deeper
Open the full story, architect, structure, timeline, and any links already attached to the record. Three deep dives a day are on us.
Scanner · Beta
Point your phone down the street.
The scanner reads where you stand and which way you face, then floats chips for the places ahead, name, direction, distance. Tap one and the story opens. No search box between you and the building.
GPS + compass, pin-level honesty: it points, it doesn’t pretend to lock on. Works on your phone over HTTPS.
Open the scannerWalks worth taking
Curated routes, a docent note at every stop. Free walks for everyone; the deeper cuts travel with Lore+.
Choose a city
The catalog shows only routes that are live in Lore now.
Follow the stops
Each walk keeps its places in sequence with a note at every stop.
Keep your bearings
Open the route map and directions whenever the street gets unclear.
Every way into a story
A place isn’t one paragraph. The dossier opens every door, read it, hear it, see it, scroll its decades.
Photos
The archive photograph, with its source printed on the label.
Video
See it through everyone's lens, the apps people actually film on.
Audio
The docent reads the story aloud. Narration travels with Lore+.
Timelines
A building's life on one rail, scroll the decades left to right.
The city has been talking the whole time, every cornice, every plinth, every river that runs backward.
Lore is how you answer back. Point at a chronicled place and the docent starts mid-sentence, as if it had been waiting for you to look up.
Who it’s for
Anyone who has ever looked up and wondered. A few of the people we built it with in mind:
“The Loop's architectural record, pinned to the actual facades, architect, year, and structure in one glance.”
“Point at a chronicled building and see how it stands up: structure type, height, and materials where recorded.”
“Place history organized around the buildings, people, and moments attached to the block.”
“A pocket docent for the chronicled streets around you, not only the landmarks on every postcard.”
“Turn a chronicled block into a field trip with free scanning and links where the catalog has them.”
“Point the phone at a statue and it tells its story, screen time that ends with looking up.”
Cities on every continent
From Chicago to Tokyo, Rome to Rio, chronicled block by block across every inhabited continent, with more cities on the docent’s desk.
- places chronicled
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- places chronicled
- stories pinned
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- stories pinned
- cities live
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- cities live
Choose your Lore
The city is free to read.
Scanning, story cards, and your visit journal never cost a thing. Lore+ lifts the deep-dive limit and adds tours and narration.
Free
$0A docent shouldn’t demand ID before telling a story.
- Point the camera, get the card. Unlimited, always
- The name, the year, the one fact worth telling a friend
- Three deep dives a day
- Save visits, keep a journal, and collect discovery badges
Lore+
Unlimited stories, guided walks, and narration.
Or $99.99 once for lifetime access.
Everything in Free, plus
- Deep dives, unlimitedThe full dossier: story, timeline, gallery, sources.
- Curated walking toursRoutes with a docent note at every stop, start to finish.
- Audio narrationThe docent reads each story aloud while you look up.
Curated city by city. Lore only identifies places already in its atlas. Where a source link is available, it appears with the story.