about roava
We’d rather do one city properly than fifty passably.
Roava started with a bad group tour: forty people, one umbrella, no time to linger anywhere that mattered. We thought a walk through a city should feel like a friend who’s read everything showing you around — and that nobody should have to choose between depth and freedom.
how a walk gets made
Walked. Written. Produced.
Every walk in the app went through all three — months per route, on foot, before you hear a word.
We walk the route until it's boring — then cut everything that made it boring. Stops earn their minutes on foot, in every season we can manage.
Primary sources, city archives, and people who were there. Then it's drafted like a story — an arc, not a list — and read aloud on the street until it sounds right.
Narrated and mixed like radio, then mapped to the street so the right sentence arrives at the right corner — without you touching your phone.
Ottawa is first because it’s ours. Your city is next because you asked.
We add a city when its stories are ready, not when a map says we should. Tell us where to walk next.