Smart Living

Stadtgeist Karlsruhe: The app for the curious

The augmented history app Stadtgeist Karlsruhe is a free service provided by the city for its citizens and visitors with stories from, with and about Karlsruhe. The app makes it child’s play to explore the fan-shaped city on your own with your smartphone. More than 100 exciting video and audio contributions await you at numerous city landmarks, opening up new perspectives on the past and future of Karlsruhe. The app is designed for anyone who lives in Karlsruhe or is visiting the fan-shaped city and would like to go on an exciting discovery tour with their smartphone. Especially great: with the support of Karlsruhe citizens, new city areas and their stories are being added to the app. The city center was followed by separate city brands for Knielingen in 2018. Durlach residents are currently working on exciting content for the expansion of the app to include Karlsruhe’s largest district. The Stadtgeist app is available free of charge for iPhone (from iPhone4s), Android or Windows Phone. The Augmented History App with stories about Karlsruhe has been available since 2015. In cooperation with the City of Karlsruhe’s Science Office, the concept was implemented as part of the SmarterCity initiative of the Economic Development Agency together with the development company bluehands GmbH & Communication KG.

Digital tourist information in the heart of the fan-shaped city

Anyone entering the new tourist information center at Kaiserstrasse 72-74 will immediately notice some interesting facts and figures about Karlsruhe on three large monitors. The huge flat screens hang prominently on the wall next to the entrance area and invite visitors to take a multimedia tour of the fan-shaped city. Just a few days after its opening, the screens on the City Information Wall (CI Wall) are already the landmark of the information center called “Schaufenster Karlsruhe”. On 250 square meters, visitors can obtain information about the cultural offerings and excursion destinations in the region or put together an individual city tour for their smartphone. Thanks to the modern technology and intuitive operation of the individual multimedia terminals, the Karlsruhe showcase is also a further milestone on Karlsruhe’s path to becoming a driver of digitalization.

The Karlsruhe.app – the multifunctional app for all citizens

The Karlsruhe.app is the mobile, digital and lively forum for everyone in Karlsruhe. But it is much more than just an app! This is because it also bundles a large number of other apps that have to do with Karlsruhe (“marketplace”). In addition, there are special channels and overviews on a wide variety of topics (“channels”). And users can put all of this together individually. Numerous services were already available at the launch in December 2021. Since then, a whole range of additional content and functions have been added. Much of this was done at the request of the users.

The new multifunctional app combines municipal and other useful services, offers a new communication channel between the administration and society and makes everyday life easier for citizens. The concept was awarded a prize as part of the state competition “Digitale Zukunftskommune@bw”. The project is therefore an important milestone for Karlsruhe on its way to becoming a smart city. Under the working title “digital@KA”, a platform was created that centrally bundles existing mobile Karlsruhe services, news and services relating to culture and leisure activities. Existing mobile services with a Karlsruhe connection can be used centrally and customized according to preference.

The app is currently in the test phase and is being further developed together with the urban community.