Case study

Sounds and Languages of Argentina Map: the country's sound heritage, placed on its territory

An interactive map to listen to recordings of languages, music and soundscapes from the place where they were recorded.

Client
Secretaría de Patrimonio Cultural — Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación
Year
2021
Services
Interactive map · WordPress integration · Heritage visualization
Tech stack
Google Maps JavaScript API · MarkerClusterer · WordPress REST API · JavaScript · PHP

The Challenge

Sonidos y Lenguas – Argentina brings together sound recordings from the last hundred years that were scattered across archives of national institutes such as INAPL and the Carlos Vega National Institute of Musicology. The recordings were already catalogued in WordPress (province, language, music genre, environment, source); what was missing was a way to explore them that linked each sound to its territory and let new contributions be added collaboratively.

Our Solution

We built the map on top of the data exposed by the project's WordPress API. Each recording is geolocated and can be played from its own card on the map; nearby markers are clustered and fan out on click so they don't overlap. We added combinable filters by province, type, language, music genre and environment, plus a contribution mode: double-clicking a spot opens a form to upload a recording, with category autocomplete and spam protection.

Visual Gallery

Mapa de Sonidos y Lenguas de Argentina — 1 Mapa de Sonidos y Lenguas de Argentina — 2

Results & Impact

  • Recordings of languages, music and soundscapes brought together in a single listening experience.
  • Each recording linked to its place of origin, from north to south, Antarctica included.
  • Combined filters to explore the archive by whatever each person is looking for.
  • A channel for new recordings to join the map collaboratively.

Shall we start?

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