Running Reality for local businesses
Make your place part of the story.
Visitors come for the history. Give them a reason to remember your business, too.
For a café, shop, restaurant, or inn near a historic site, the stories around your address can turn a stop into part of the experience.
Running Reality helps research those stories and bring them to life on customers' phones, through a simple QR code you share at your business.
- History tied to your location
- Research and visitor experiences together
- Simple QR access for customers
A story rooted in your place
Give customers something to remember and share.
A favorite stop can be more than a good coffee or a convenient location. It can be the place where someone discovered a vanished street, met a person from the past, or understood how the nearby historic site connects to the town around it.
Uncover your local story
Already have old photos and stories? We can build on them. Starting with just an address? We can help investigate the people and events connected to your location and what the available sources can tell us.
Connect with the visit around you
History extends beyond a park boundary or museum door. Streets, former homes, rail lines, and everyday lives can connect your business to the places your customers came to explore.
Use tools already built for history
Running Reality brings research and interactive experiences together in one shared historical world. Our existing tools turn that research into something customers can explore, with citations behind the story and technology costs shared across locations.
From your address to their experience
Start with the place you know.
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Tell us about your location
Share your address, the historic sites nearby, and any history you already know. We will look at what is available and discuss the research needed to tell a story that fits your business.
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Bring the story into view
Agree on the scope and budget for any new research or reconstruction. Start with the available historical detail and add buildings, events, or interactive people in phases.
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Invite customers to explore
Share your visitor QR code at the counter, on a table, or in a guest welcome card. Customers open the experience on their phones and discover the history around them, with your business as their starting point.
A window into the past
More than a story on a sign.
Customers can explore historical content and aerial views for free. Local Business access adds premium experiences for visitors at or near your location, using the historical detail available for that place and date.
WALK-AR
Show what used to be here
A former rail line, a vanished building, or a historical scene can change how someone sees the street outside. With augmented reality, customers point their phone to see available reconstructions in the camera view of today's surroundings.
TALK
Put people in the story
History is people. Where interactive historical people are available, customers can ask about their lives, experiences, and perspectives. Sourced conversations give visitors another way to investigate the stories behind the places around them.
A starting point for your business
Share the experience. Grow the story.
Customer access
Local Business
Sponsor WALK, TALK, and GUIDE for customers at or near your business, so they can explore on their own devices. Your visitor link or QR code connects them to the experience.
$19.00 USD / monthTry business access free for 45 days. Your trial starts when you choose Start free trial in your profile. No card required.
Compare all plans. Research and new content creation are arranged separately.
Research and reconstruction
Uncover more of your location's history
You do not need to arrive with a finished history. We can help research your location, build on the sources you already have, and turn the findings into historical detail customers can explore.
The work depends on the sources, existing content, and level of detail. An old street layout and a full 3D building require different amounts of work. We will discuss the scope and quote with you.
Start with a manageable piece of the story and expand it as your interests, research, and budget allow.
Learn about content creationMake the connection across your community.
Work with nearby historic sites, other businesses, and local teachers to tell a larger story. Shared research can connect the museum visit, the walk through town, and the stop at your door.
Explore community partnershipsThe practical details.
Start with your address and the places nearby. We can review what is already in Running Reality and discuss research to fill the gaps. An old photograph, a former business name, or a local contact can help, but you do not need to have the research in hand before talking with us.
Even a newer building may stand on a former street, workplace, or landscape connected to the wider story. What we can reconstruct depends on the evidence available.
Historical detail varies by place and date. Explore the existing content with us before choosing what to share. Premium access unlocks experiences; additional research and reconstructions are scoped separately.
Alongside WALK and TALK, GUIDE supports exploring historic places on location. All of these experiences use the same shared historical world.
Customers open the visitor link in a web browser on their phone or tablet. WALK-AR also uses the camera, location, and motion sensors, with permission from the visitor. Preview the experience at your location on the devices and connections customers will use.
GPS and compass readings are approximate. Reconstructions may appear shifted, so AR is for historical interpretation. Read the location accuracy guidance.
Historical claims and reenactor conversations are backed by sources. We connect historical detail with citations, and use photos, texts, and other evidence to inform reconstructions. Read about the approach to 3D reconstruction.
Your own sources and knowledge can help deepen the story. Research added to the shared project also helps people understand the wider community.
Yes. We can discuss a shared project with historic sites, other businesses, schools, and researchers. A connected story can be developed in phases, with each partner building on the same historical content. Explore grant partnerships for larger research and interpretation projects.
Customers can explore on a normal screen. Compatible cardboard viewers are an optional, inexpensive way to make an individual phone experience more immersive while shading the screen outdoors. See the benefits and setup instructions.
Your address is a good place to start.
Tell us your business name, address, and the historic places nearby. We will help you explore what is already known and what a project could look like.