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VIA TEMPORA
Chaque route a une histoire
VIA TEMPORA — Chaque route a une histoire

Abeona tells the story of the territories and the places you actually drive through, at the right moment, without ever getting in the way of driving.

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First prize, BoostCampus 47 · 2026 edition

App presentation video · 1 min 55

01The observation

The unsuspected richness of our journeys

Our GPS gets us easily from A to B. It tells us where to go, but not what we are driving through.

A daily commute, a holiday departure, a visit: by car we drive through villages, landscapes and territories steeped in history. We pass heritage sites, cross rivers, change département, skirt vineyards — without always knowing what we are actually driving through.

The information rarely arrives at the right moment. A road sign points to a remarkable site, but only if we happen to see it. Discovery apps, for their part, suggest routes and places away from the journey we have already chosen.

A country road winds between orchards and vines at dusk, a hilltop village on the horizon. — Illustration generated by artificial intelligence

« If I had known there was something worth seeing a few kilometres off my route, I would have stopped. »

What we tell ourselves, too often, on arrival.

02The approach

Tell the road, then invite you to stop

First, Abeona tells you about what you are driving through: the villages, the rivers, the territories, as you pass them. You keep your GPS and your route; she comes along on the road you chose.

Then, when your road crosses or passes close to a remarkable place — a listed village, a monument, a natural site — she points it out early enough for you to decide: carry on, make a detour, or stop. Route Mode then takes over, so you can discover it at your own pace.

Seen from the passenger seat: hands on the wheel, the phone switched off in its mount, the road running between vines towards a hilltop village. — Illustration generated by artificial intelligence

Your road remains yours. The territory, though, can give you a reason to stop.

03Two modes

Two ways of meeting a territory

Journey Mode while you drive, Route Mode to discover a place by car or on foot. They complement each other, and neither asks you to look at the screen on the road.

App mockup, in development

Journey Mode

For long journeys

You pick your destination and keep your usual GPS for navigation. Alongside it, the app identifies the territories, places and geographic features you actually encounter, and Abeona tells you about them as you pass.

The narration is built in real time, with a density of stories calibrated to enrich every kilometre without getting in the way of driving. It is not a sequence of pre-programmed content but a story fitted to the journey actually made.

Triggered by your position, without a gesture
Behind your GPS and your music
Even where there is no signal

App mockup, in development

Route Mode

For discovering locally

You compose your route from the places Abeona knows, then follow it by car or on foot. Nothing triggers while you drive: you start the story yourself, at a standstill, in front of the place. Abeona invites you to it on her own when your journey nears a remarkable town, and when you arrive.

Freed from the constraints of driving, the stories can be richer and longer. You take the time you need, and you keep control of the pace of your discovery.

Longer, deeper stories
By car or on foot
Started by you, when stopped

04One hour on the road

From Agen to Villeréal: nine stories at the pace of the road

A sample journey, minute by minute. The density of stories is calibrated so that every stage of the journey has its story, without ever getting in the way of driving.

Abeona tellsThe road

18:00 · The Agen prunePhoto: Jean-Marie Bidaux · CC BY 2.0
28:30 · PujolsPhoto: Sylvain Crouzillat · CC BY-SA 3.0
36:30 · Villeneuve-sur-LotPhoto: MOSSOT · CC BY 3.0
53:00 · MonflanquinPhoto: Renhour48 · CC0
59:00 · VilleréalPhoto: Renhour48 · CC0

0:00Agen, departureWelcomeAbeona’s opening words3 s
8:00Leaving AgenA foretaste of VilleréalAnecdote about the destination30 s
18:00Lot valleyThe Agen pruneStory of the territory1 min 30
28:30PujolsPujolsStory, and an invitation to discover1 min 30
36:30Villeneuve-sur-LotVilleneuve-sur-LotStory1 min 30
41:30The LotCrossing the LotStory30 s
47:30ApproachingVilleréal, a second foretasteAnecdote about the destination30 s
53:00MonflanquinMonflanquinStory, and an invitation to discover1 min 30
59:00Villeréal, arrivalVilleréalStory, and an invitation to discover1 min 30

of driving: 60 minof driving
stories told: 9stories told
between two stories, on average: 7 minbetween two stories, on average
gestures asked of the driver: 0gestures asked of the driver

05The rules

What sets it apart

A travelling companion is judged on what it refrains from doing: talking too much, talking badly, talking over you.

At the right moment, never after
A place is announced ahead of time, when it lies in front of you and close enough for you to have time to see it. Never once it is behind you.
Behind the GPS, never in front of it
A navigation instruction pauses Abeona, music ducks, a podcast stops. Two voices never overlap, ever.
Deep into the countryside
The stories travel with the app: Abeona is built to keep telling them even where there is no signal at all.
Once, for good
A place that has been told is never told again. Not on the way back, not next month, not in three years — unless you reset the counter yourself.
A rhythm made for the road
A density of stories calibrated to enrich every kilometre without getting in the way of driving: enough for the road to speak to you, never so much that it distracts you.
Almost nothing to look at
While you drive, the screen shows the name of the place and whether it is playing. The text of the story appears only once you have stopped.

06The voice

Abeona

Guardian of departures, of travellers and of roads

VIA TEMPORA is embodied by Abeona, a figure of Roman mythology who watched over those setting out. She accompanies the traveller all along the road and gives the experience a voice and an identity: every audio message and every notification is spoken by her.

She does not replace the GPS and never intervenes in navigation. Her role is another one: telling the traveller about the territory they are crossing, at the moment they meet it. Her voice is synthesised on your phone, sentence by sentence, without a single sound passing through a server.

She describes, she does not instruct. “On your right stands…”, never “Look to your right”. At the wheel, that distinction is not a matter of style.

« I am Abeona, guardian of travellers and of roads. Ours leads us today to Villeréal. »

The opening words, as a journey begins

07Editorial standards

Complete independence, and verified facts

ADN

VIA TEMPORA’s DNA rests on complete independence in how content is selected and ranked. What is offered to the traveller is never chosen or promoted on the basis of commercial interests.

Old postcard: the Porte de Paris in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, a tram leaving for Villeréal — Villeneuve-sur-Lot, the Porte de Paris: “departure of the Villeréal tram”. Old postcard.Public domain

Objective criteria

Places are selected solely on criteria tied to the territory, to their heritage or cultural interest, and to the traveller’s habits. That selection can neither be bought nor influenced by a commercial player.

Partner routes, labelled as such

Partners may create their own routes in Route Mode, and these may be funded. They are then clearly identified as sponsored content. The editorial content itself stays independent.

An uncorroborated fact is dropped, not rounded off

Every story rests on a closed file of primary sources, or on two secondary sources that agree. A year absent from the file is refused, figures have to match INSEE, and every story is read by a human before publication.

places studied in Lot-et-Garonne: 1,000+places studied in Lot-et-Garonne
of the département inventoried: 100%of the département inventoried
agreeing sources, minimum: 2agreeing sources, minimum
strong idea per story: 1strong idea per story

08Privacy

Your position never leaves your phone.

The GPS loop makes no network call at all. Only the address search and the route calculation, both as you set off, reach IGN’s Géoplateforme — a French public service.

No trackers, no advertising, nothing sold on. Your data can be exported and erased from within the app, in two gestures.

Read the privacy policy

09Coverage

The whole of France, one département after another

Version 1 is meant to cover the whole of France, so that the experience is available everywhere from launch. Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the reference territory: that is where the first partnerships are made and the first travellers drive.

Writing a sourced story takes longer than drawing a zone on a map. No territory is published until its stories have been written and proofread.

Engraved map of the Lot-et-Garonne département, framed by vignettes, 19th century — Lot-et-Garonne, engraved by Victor Levasseur for the Atlas national illustré, 19th century.Public domain

Beta
Lot-et-Garonne
The whole département: regions, towns, waterways and notable places.
In progress
Version 1
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine first
Route Mode, preferences, the major historic roads and the first partner routes.
Planned

10Partners

A model where everyone wins

Tourist offices, local authorities, accommodation, producers, sites: VIA TEMPORA is also a tool for showcasing territories. The partner offers access to its guests; its visitors discover what they had not planned to see.

Discover the partner programme

Pujols's covered market lit up at night — Photo: Sylvain Crouzillat · CC BY-SA 3.0

Award

First prize at BoostCampus 47

On 3 October 2026, in Tonneins, VIA TEMPORA won first prize at the ninth BoostCampus 47, the start-up competition run by the Campus Numérique 47. Twelve digital projects were defended before the jury after two days of work; four were rewarded.

Since 2017, the competition has sought out innovative projects with a digital core in Lot-et-Garonne, and given its winners the means to grow them: prize money and a period of incubation at the Campus Numérique 47, in Agen.

For us, it is recognition from the very territory the app tells the story of — and support to carry it through to launch.

prize, out of four winners: 1stprize, out of four winners
projects in the final: 12projects in the final
edition of the competition: 9thedition of the competition

Read the Quidam Hebdo article

Arnaud and Loïc, the two partners behind VIA TEMPORA, smiling, holding up their BoostCampus 47 candidate badges — Arnaud and Loïc on the day of the competition, with their candidate badges.

They support us

VIA TEMPORA

Chaque route a une histoire

The next road is already written.

All that is left is to hear it.

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VIA TEMPORAChaque route a une histoireVIA TEMPORA — Chaque route a une histoire