Dunedin Unesco City of Literature has teamed up with the University of Otago's department of English and linguistics to create the ''dtour'' app.
This app ''links remarkable writers and their stories to remarkable sites in Dunedin and the Otago region'', project director Dr David Ciccoricco said.
Dr Ciccoricco, of the Otago English and linguistics department, said the app, launched on Friday, alerted users to published stories and poems which contained references to the city.
The app also provided information about places in the city that writers - both living and deceased - had lived in or visited, even if they were not referred to in their works.
The app was also rich in anecdotes, reflecting a form of story-telling which often included a mix of fact and fiction and the ''quite fuzzy'' line between them, Dr Ciccoricco said.
''Gossip was supposedly the earliest form of story-telling.
''We're hopeful that the app will generate more stories for us.''
He and his wife were walking their dog on John Wilson Ocean Dr last week, and he used the app to listen to poems by award-winning Dunedin poet and fiction writer Sue Wootton, voiced by TV presenter Dougal Stevenson.
In her poem Magnetic South she reflects on Dunedin, saying ''Yours is the tide I swim in'', and also conjures up the sounds of the city's coastal dunes in another work, wittily titled Dune din.
The app project's ''real point of difference'' was the focus on fresh research and voice-overs, rather than ''dumping existing information'' into a ''flashy interface'', he said.
City of Literature director Nicky Page said it was ''important to be able to celebrate our wonderful writers''.
Ms Page, Lynley Edmeades and David Large were other members of the team that developed the app, which explored ''literary locations'' that reflected ''the city's colourful cultural history''.
The initial launch of 50 authors and literary sites was made at Otago Museum, and another 50 sites will be added next year.
Dr Large said it would be a ''useful outcome'' if people felt moved to read more of the writing they came across via the app.
The app is available for Apple iOS devices as a free download from the AppStore.
