iWitness tool offers social content search by time and place

A new free tool which gives users the ability to search content shared on social media by time and location launched this week, having been named as one of the winners of the Knight News Challenge last year.

iWitness - an open source web application - aims to provide users, such as journalists, with the ability to search Twitter and Flickr for content such as eye-witness accounts, based on times and locations. Searches can be live, to see what is happening right now, or go back in time.

Content, which can be filtered by text, images and video, will also include media posted on Twitter but originating from platforms including Instagram and YouTube.

According to a release the new tool uses "geolocation data shared by users to pinpoint the location where a post, photo, or video originated".

In a promotional video (embedded below) the web app is said to be "particularly useful for people interested in news events" and as such will also able to be used within digital storytelling platform Storify, the video adds. Content found using the application can also be embedded to news websites.

The release adds: "It allows users to see content from a particular location in real time or by specifying a time range. It is expected that this will be particularly valuable during emergencies when people look to share eyewitness news across social media channels."

iWitness, produced by Adaptive Path in partnership with New Context, was one of the winners of last year's Knight News Challenge, securing $360,000 for its development.

The app was tested in beta stage at five US national and regional newspapers, said to include the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Seattle Times, with feedback from the reporters using the app built back into the design.

At the time of writing iWitness "works only on WebKit-based browsers such as Google Chrome and Safari".

In the video below co-founder and chief creative officer of Adaptive Path Jesse James Garrett explains more about the app, which he says was made free and open-source to enable anyone to be able to "extend the capabilities".

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