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The 9/11 Memorial and technology (photos)

In New York City, the memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks isn't even a year old, but already 2 million people have visited. Technology helps many of them navigate around.

Daniel Terdiman
Daniel Terdiman is a senior writer at CNET News covering Twitter, Net culture, and everything in between.
Daniel Terdiman
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Flower by the North Memorial Pool

NEW YORK--On September 11, 2011, the 9/11 Memorial opened here, and already more than 2 million people have visited. There, guests take in somber remembrances of the 2,983 people who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The memorial is in the most somber place possible: in and around the former location of the World Trade Center towers that came crumbling down. The most striking elements are the two memorial pools, located in the actual footprints of the original North and South World Trade Center towers.

As visitors walk around the site, they can use two mobile apps to help orient themselves, find the names of specific 9/11 victims, hear stories about victims, and much more.

In this picture, a flower has been placed alongside the North Memorial Pool.

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Guy Barzvi

The 9/11 Memorial has created two mobile apps to help visitors navigate the site and find what they're looking for. Among the things that the apps can do is locate the names of specific 9/11 victims (since the names are not listed alphabetically). The app can also show a small profile of any victim.

Here, we see the app showing the profile for Guy Barzvi alongside his name on the Memorial itself.

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Barzvi profile

A close-up of the profile for Guy Barzvi, as seen in the 9/11 Memorial Guide app.
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Barzvi Web profile

Anyone can explore the list of 9/11 victims' names on the Web by visiting names.911memorial.org. If they find the name of someone they want to learn more about -- or want to visit at the memorial itself -- they can print out the person's profile, which lists the exact location of their name. The user can also have that person's profile sent to them by email or text message.
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Barzvi profile sent by text

This is what an iPhone user would see if they had one of the 9/11 victims' names texted to them.
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Adjacencies

One of the reasons that the list of victims' names on the Memorial isn't alphabetical is that many names are grouped together. For example, all the first responders are listed together, as are employees of firms that were located in the World Trade Center like Cantor Fitzgerald. In addition, some names are placed adjacent to each other, usually at the request of family members, friends, or colleagues.

Here, we see that Guy Barzvi's name is located adjacent to that of Gregory E. Rodriguez and Marina Romanova Gertsberg. Visitors are not able to see the reason for the request to place the names adjacent to each other.

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New 1 World Trade Center

When finished, the new 1 World Trade Center tower will be the tallest building in the United States. Counting its antenna, it will be 1,776 feet tall, a number that, of course, symbolizes freedom and independence to Americans.
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Augmented reality app

Another 9/11 Memorial app -- available for iPhone only -- is the Explore 9/11 app. Among other things, this app has an augmented reality feature that allows users to see archival photos related to the 9/11 attacks that have been geotagged in a location next to where they're using the app. Here, in an image created on April 18, 2012, the app has superimposed an image of the aftermath of the World Trade Center towers' collapse on a live view of the new 1 World Trade Center tower.
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Vigiano brothers spot

The Explore 9/11 app also allows users to listen to stories related to certain victims of the attacks. This map shows where the victims' names are located, and shows that a story for the Vigiano brothers has been selected.
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Vigiano brothers story

Clicking on the button for the Vigiano brothers story in the Explore 9/11 app brings up this page.
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Tour stop

Another feature of the Explore 9/11 app is that users can take a virtual tour and listen to stories related to the stops they pass through.
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Timeline

The Explore 9/11 app also includes a timeline of the events of September 11, 2001, and for each, there may be photos or stories available through the app.
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Using the kiosk

For those visitors who don't bring a smartphone -- or have the 9/11 Memorial Guide app, there are 10 kiosks located within the memorial site. There, visitors can search for the names of victims and get short profiles of them.
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Kiosk profile ticket

Visitors to the memorial can print out profiles of 9/11 victims at the kiosks. The ticket-like print-outs include a short bit of biographical information and the exact location of the victim's name.
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Guide with iPad

Yet another way visitors to the memorial -- in this case, mainly family members of victims -- can find names is by asking one of the site's guides to look the name up on an iPad running the apps.
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Advance passes required

Although the 9/11 Memorial is open to everyone and is free, but all visitors must have obtained a pass in advance. There are several ways to do that, but the easiest is to register on 911Memorial.org and print out your own ticket.
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Looking into the North Memorial Pool

A look into the hauntingly beautiful North Memorial Pool. The two memorial pools were erected on the exact footprints of the twin towers, and each contains 30-foot manmade waterfalls -- the largest in North America -- and a center void which descends 15 feet further below.
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Making an imprint

Some visitors want to take home an imprint of the name of a victim that was special to them. Guides and others carry kits allowing them to do so.
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South Memorial Pool

A look into the South Memorial Pool.
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Museum exhibition rendering

Although the 9/11 Memorial is already open, the official 9/11 Museum is still being worked on and is expected to open within a year or so. This is a rendering of a room in which victims will be memorialized on the walls, one at a time.
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Museum rendering

Another rendering of the 9/11 Museum shows a wall that will feature the faces of all 9/11 victims.
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Vesey stairway rendering

Through all the destruction at the World Trade Center site after 9/11, one stairway -- known as the Vesey stairs -- was left intact and recovered. It has been installed in the 9/11 Museum, and this rendering shows what it will look like inside the museum once it is open to the public.
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Exposed slurry wall rendering

This is a rendering of the installation inside the 9/11 Museum of an exposed slurry wall from the original World Trade Center site.
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Museum building

Located adjacent to the memorial pools, the 9/11 Museum is being worked on and should open to the public soon.

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