Stories on historical battle shared through innovative technology

A high-tech Swindon company has created innovative technology for an interactive map on the Battle of Jutland which has received more than 1.5 million unique users.

Nautoguide Ltd teamed up with The National Museum of the Royal Navy to develop an interactive map that merges modern technology and historical information dating back 100 years in an innovative way.

The map, created to record the individuals involved in the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle in history, has provided an innovative way of charting the impact of the battle, which claimed the lives of more than 8,500 sailors from both Britain and Germany.

It highlights the scale and significance of the Battle of Jutland to the First World War, by visually demonstrating the involvement of people from all over the British Isles and further afield.

Nautoguide Ltd, based in Swindon, Wiltshire, has developed the technology that allows the tracking of the more intricate detail, the stories and information added to the Jutland map. This tracking of data allows the creation of a unique picture of the information mapped over time, with the addition of a timelapse capture that shows the new data being added to the map. This allows descendants and anyone who has information and photographs of those who fought at Jutland, to upload them and share them as part of an online network.

The CEO of Nautoguide Dave Barter said: “The Jutland map includes our map feature linking engine allowing users to quickly navigate around objects exploring the relationships between them. Any two objects can be linked, for example a sailor to his ship, or a ship to its home port, and once linked the map takes care of the rest. The user is presented with a list of linked items and a single click takes them to this item upon the map.

“Our linking engine makes the Jutland experience more immersive for users, they can not only see items pinned on the map, they can see the relationships between them in a geographical sense as well. Using this engine we’ve allowed users to add notes to the map that are pinned to the map and linked back to the sailor. This will provide a rich tapestry of new information as relatives build up the stories and landmarks that surround their heroes.”

The joint venture between Nautoguide and The NMRN has created a platform for easy mapping, linking, annotating and exploring historical information. This will allow the Jutland story to grow and expand including the German side of the story to the Battle of Jutland.

Head of Heritage Development at The NMRN, Nick Hewitt, said: “The Jutland Interactive Map is a groundbreaking project that has seen collaboration between Nautoguide and The NMRN to map the human impact and significance of the Royal Navy’s defining moment of the First World War.

“Nautoguide has been a great team to work with on this project, making changes at a moment’s notice that have helped create a web interface that is easy to use and something that has never been achieved before. The potential expansion for such a project is one that is exciting and something that will be eagerly anticipated as the momentum continues.”

The interactive map stands out from other online projects that commemorate those involved in the Battle of Jutland, by including a feature linking engine which has not been done before on a project.

This feature enables users to quickly navigate around objects exploring the relationship between them, such as sailors and ships, home ports and memorials. The feature allows users to see the geographical linking on screen and the connections that their relatives had before, during and after the Battle of Jutland.

Public additions to the map are welcomed and a feature for social media sharing – via Facebook or Twitter – allows for the stories of individual sailors to be shared and viewed by others with a single click. Both the linking and social sharing of the Jutland Interactive Map are features that no other organisation has achieved to such a degree.