This programme ran from 2008-2010 at the Pervasive Media Studio. For more projects like these please visit the Studio website.

Projects 2010

Company Profile

Overlay Media provides technology and expertise in the creation of context-aware mobile experiences. Recently this has involved the licensing of Overlay Media LBS technology to companies such as Samsung.

Journal Authors

Cath Willcox

Ian Anderson

@HillsAreEvil

Hills are Evil!

by Overlay Media

How can digital tools help people with restricted mobility, find the best and easiest route between two places?

Overlay Media's ‘technical’ aim was the creation of a dynamic map overlay that provides people with restricted mobility, cyclists, skateboarders, the elderly, and people pushing pushchairs, the ability to identify the most appropriate route between two places. The route is determined based upon factors including gradients and surfaces.

Their ‘real world’ aim was to create a tool that can extend peoples’ independence by, for example, identifying routes between places that are optimised to suit individual circumstances, e.g. no hills or cobbles for wheelchair users.

Watch the project video

Journal Entries

Journal Entries

An overlay from Overlay…

Tue 1 Mar, 2011

So now the Media Sandbox has had its official end we wanted to give you a snapshot of some of the data we’ve mapped – specifically the map overlay in the centre of Bristol.

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It's the Final Countdown

Mon 14 Feb, 2011

With just four days until the Media Sandbox showcase, we’re really looking forward to presenting our work on Hills Are Evil! We’re hoping to have a short obstacle course (complete with wheelchair) to demonstrate why the project is useful. Any pain related comments that you feel the need to express whilst attempting the course can be fed back into the app… (so if it hurt like *%$@, let us know) So come along and get involved – we’d love to hear your feedback face to face!

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Pain, Posters and Philosophy

Thu 20 Jan, 2011

Aristotle said that “the aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain” – and while I’m not certain that he’d heard of the Hills Are Evil project at this point in his career, he certainly summed up our philosophy! As such, we have moved on from thoughts of ski runs and contours, and have been thinking of ways of expressing pain in a fun way – so if a user were to propose a route up the infamous Park Street, then the app would say ‘That will kill you!’ or similar.

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Knowledge is everything

Fri 10 Dec, 2010

Given the name of this project, you may not be surprised to learn that the people involved in it consider pushing up steep gradients (aka hills) in wheelchairs to be not much fun! But before we get into that I’d like to introduce myself. I’m Ian, a full time wheelchair user and I’m lazy and unfit (yes, those two are probably linked…). In this post I want to share why I think hills are evil and the great benefits of a ‘heads-up!’ Knowledge is everything The need to push up a steep hill occurs for one of two reasons:

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Roll up, roll up!

Mon 1 Nov, 2010

After our last map-filled blog post, we thought we’d take this one as an opportunity to show you our Hills Are Evil website. It’s a work in progress, and ready to be moulded by your feedback and suggestions. Check it out here:

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