Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby launches Rate my View smartphone app

Broadcaster and journalist Jonathan Dimbleby is to launch an innovative new smartphone app that enables people to capture and comment upon landscapes in and around the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Rate my View has been developed by the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in partnership with Plymouth University as part of the European cross-border project Cordiale, and is designed to gather pictures and feedback from people ‘out in the field’. Users will be able to take pictures of scenes and features in the protected landscape and automatically upload them with their comments to the website, where they’ll become part of a continuous social media consultation process. Mr Dimbleby, who is the patron of the South Devon AONB, will officially launch Rate my View at the South Devon AONB annual open forum at Malborough Village Hall on Wednesday 10th July. Roger English, Project Officer at South Devon AONB, said: "We’re delighted that our Patron Jonathan Dimbleby is formally launching Rate My View. The app’s simple nature enables a participative approach to collecting, sharing and understanding a range of public perceptions of local landscapes in and around the South Devon AONB. We’re hoping that over time it will enable us to build up a picture of how the AONB is perceived." The South Devon AONB is one of 46 in the country, and stretches from Brixham to Wembury, and includes towns such as Kingsbridge, Dartmouth, Salcombe and Modbury in addition to the spectacular coastline, estuaries and farmed countryside.