Roamni: an audio tour app for locals and travellers

The Roamni App

VISUAL: RMIT Animated logo

AUDIO: Ambient music plays

GREG CURCIO SPEAKS: Went on a $50 tour and didn't really stop at any of the sites, and the tour guide didn't really have great knowledge of the area. So I thought to myself, "Well, there's got to be a better way," and then Roamni was inspired from that.

VISUAL: A time lapse of two men, and stand at a busy intersection.

VISUAL: Titles: Greg Curcio, Jason Fabbri

GREG CURCIO SPEAKS: There wasn't really a crowd-sourced audio tour guide app or a platform, and we thought that it would be really important for people to share their own stories and experiences. Regardless if it was a tour or not, we thought that it was a good outlet for people to do that, and that's where the market really has a gap at the moment.

VISUALS: A young woman walks the streets of Melbourne, she wearing headphones and carrying an iPhone, using the Roamni app.

VISUALS: A man, Greg, stands in front of a Melbourne cityscape and speaks to camera.

JASON FABBRI SPEAKS: Yeah. So what you do with Roamni is you arrive in a city, and you open up the app. And when you open the app, you'll be presented with a number of tours around you. You'll be able to understand what the tours offer, how long they go for, and what's on the tours. And you can also create tours, as well. So if you enjoy going on tours, you can use your phone and create your own and earn money in the same time.

VISUALS: A man, Jason, stands in front of a Melbourne cityscape and speaks to camera.

GREG CURCIO SPEAKS: In particular, what we're really interested in at Roamni is people's experiences and their stories for areas that most people wouldn't even know about.

VISUALS: Greg and Jason, sit at a desk using their iPhones, demonstrating the app.

JASON FABBRI SPEAKS: With Swift, there was less limitations, it was fully supported by Apple.

GREG CURCIO SPEAKS: Swift was the most practical and most flexible programming language and probably the most advanced one that was at the market place. It also is secure and is really low maintenance and modularized so we've been able to develop quite quickly and also provide some key features and APIs into other applications.

VISUALS: Greg and Jason together in RMIT’s Activator offices, at a gala dinner and on stage at Government House during the Pitch At Palace event.

RMIT supported us through the development process through many different ways. Through housing us at the RMIT Activator, through their SIF fund, $25,000 to get us on our way, to supporting us through the recent pitch at Palace, where Roamni made the national top 12 final up in Sydney, and we're very grateful for the support that RMIT has given us.

JASON FABBRI SPEAKS: They've really enabled us to create Roamni and we really thank RMIT for everything they've done, they've made it possible.