A North Vancouver arts organization and a pair of North Shore developers are uplifting local history through a new app.
North Van Arts launched North Shore Culture Quest last month, an app where players can learn local history through scavenger hunt challenges.
“The idea is to provide something fun to do so that you can learn something on the way and kind of see new areas that you might not have seen on the North Shore before,” said Anna Lynch, executive director for North Van Arts.
Each quest in the app explores a different area of the North Shore, where players are guided through multiple location-based clues and collect letters as they complete the tasks.
Some challenges include walking up to certain landmarks to answer multiple choice questions about the location, while others are lining up historic images with the present-day view, seeing how the North Shore has changed over the decades. The app also features ranking stats to compare to other players completing the quests.
Andrew Farris and Christopher Reid are the developers behind the app and were excited to take on the project for its local focus, as they both live on the North Shore.
“We’ve never had a chance to do any work on the North Shore and in our neighbourhood, so this is a very exciting opportunity to do a new project that gave us an opportunity to explore our neighbourhood,” Farris said.
Farris said the app’s design is a great way to get people engaged in their surroundings.
“[It’s] not just walking around and reading text or listening, but rather they have to go and find things and engage with their surroundings,” Farris said. “It creates a much more interactive experience that’s a little more exciting for people.”
Creating the North Shore Culture Quest app was no strange task as the duo are also the developers behind On This Spot, an app that takes people on local historical walking tours in more than 60 cities across Canada.
North Van Arts worked with the app developers last year after receiving funding from B.C.’s Destination Development fund in 2023.
But the project’s initial concept spans back to 2020, when the arts organization launched PDF Culture Compass treasure hunts for people to get outside and explore during the COVID-19 pandemic. After hearing positive feedback from the original treasure hunts, North Van Arts wanted to continue the fun and game for the community.
“It’s just our general goal to educate, but in a fun way,” Lynch said. “As an arts organization, we’re always advocating in educating our community about all of the different things that are on offer on the North Shore.”
App maps the entire North Shore
Farris hopes the culture quest app encourages people to explore all the unique gems the North Shore has to offer.
“We’re trying to figure out ways to encourage people to explore the entire North Shore and get people out and about and realizing that there’s more than just Lonsdale or Ambleside,” Farris said.
But he also hopes locals take on the quests too, rediscovering or learning new aspects of the community. Splitting the quests into different neighbourhoods was a way to achieve that for everyone using the app, he said.
So far, people can explore Lower Lonsdale, The Shipyards, Mahon Park, Capilano University, Deep Cove and Ambleside. A new quest will be added each month, Lynch said.
“I think it’s a phenomenal thing for people to engage with in the summer,” Farris said. “It’s a free experience, it’s a public service and it’s for everybody … this is a game where everyone can benefit from it.”
The app can be downloaded for free on both Apple and Android devices.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
https://bsky.app/profile/abbyluciano.bsky.social
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