Calling all wayfarers! Explore Melbourne through Augmented Reality
For once, having your nose in your phone may actually be a good thing.
2018 is officially in full swing, and here at Team PHORIA we have been working hard to create and empower ways to experience a physical place in a digital space.
After the success of Santa’s Lil Helper, PHORIA was once again commissioned by the City of Melbourne, as well as the City of Yarra and the City of Port Phillip, to innovate Melbourne’s next big Augmented Reality (AR) experience.
Featured at Melbourne Knowledge Week 2018, 4D Melbourne: Unearth the Invisible is just a taste of what PHORIA has in store for this year.
4D Melbourne is a contextualised smart device application that utilises location based AR powered technology to enhance way-finding and place-making through interactive storytelling. As we believe these tools have the power to transform the way we perceive space and time in a modern, digital world.
With the app, users are guided by AI assistant NIDA on a quest to explore some of Melbourne’s premier cultural sites -
// Melbourne Innovation District
We encouraged users to immerse themselves in an evolution from the first, through to the fourth dimension (1D to 4D):
1D Pinpoint — Commence your journey at a specific moment in time.
2D Memory — Unearth an archival path from the past to the present.
2.5D Understand — If you follow NIDA’s audio guidance, she can help you navigate from the present to the future as you learn about each site.
3D Expand — With this understanding, gain a new perspective of your surroundings by activating an interactive 3D world.
4D Evolve — With this expanded awareness awareness, help us embrace change as we envision and transform for the future)
You can see the on-boarding in action below:
The experience kicks of with a video hint to starting point from NIDA’s volumetric map. Users are encouraged to seek out a series of 2D markers that trigger various pieces of content and narrative.
While the prospect of an 4D map may seem silly, by harnessing reality capture and 3D visualisations, this new form of storytelling drives connection with on a hyper-localised level.
By completing these challenges, users unearth real time knowledge about the past, present, and future of each site.
Image marker // Recognise a predetermined 2D image, and as you scrub away at the image you activate archival content and uncover buried information about the past.
360 image marker // GPS coordinates trigger a unique event that highlight a connection to the present. A 360 degree perspective will slowly be revealed by rotating on the spot to perceive a new perspective of the present moment.
3D vinyl marker // To best understand each sites vision for the future, users navigate towards a hidden vinyl marker embedded within each site. Up from the ground, emerges an interactive 3D animation that is triggered in AR.
In the initial formative stages of the project, we wondered how PHORIA could help the City of Melbourne find an innovative pathway towards embracing change, engaging with the community, and promoting positive behavioral trends.
It sounds a like a hefty task — and it was — so let’s break this process down.
The genesis behind 4D Melbourne was to extend the reach of Melbourne Knowledge Week (MKW) through collaboration and shared learning with partner council regions.
To embrace these values, we designed and built a unique, interactive wayfinding journey through different localities, where our partners and participants alike would feel more visually and spatially interconnected with the real world through an immersive medium. We wanted the app to provide users with the capacity to discover, or rediscover, the extraordinary histories and hopes for a brighter future.
4D Melbourne works against the common misconception that smart devices can only serve to separate us from each other, disengaging everyone from the real world around them. In reality, it can be the exact opposite — through this kind of futuristic innovation, limited physical areas can be expanded digitally, and thousands of people will be able to instantly and simultaneously interact with one another on a shared, virtual platform.
For once, having your nose in your phone may actually be a good thing.
Our aim is that 4D Melbourne will capture quantitative and qualitative data, allowing us to cultivate a keener insight into user habit and trends. With this knowledge we’ll be better able to understand how innovations in augmented, virtual and mixed realities can support a brighter future for all.
Check out this video for a demo of the app in action:
We hope that 4D Melbourne will pave the way, showing that AR-powered apps can:
// Drive tourist and local visitation through targeted events, cross-promotional sites and social media.
// Communicate relevant ideas and messages in meaningful ways. An acknowledgement to the original custodians of the lands, a constructive invitation for the community or promotion of public events.
// Capture meaningful and relevant user feedback that informs, connects and inspires each site towards a strong and prosperous future for all.
However, the development of 4D Melbourne was not without its challenges.
As always, encouraging widespread distribution and increased app discoverability on a minimal budget proved to be difficult. We tried to counteract this by identifying the value of signage and wayfinding collateral, working tirelessly to ensure maximum impact.
We’ve also faced issues with prompting app users to complete the full experience by travelling to each physical site. In response, we’re creating a great new extension for the app, which will update 4D Melbourne with new AR features, allowing app users to enjoy the experience remotely. This decision was prompted by crucial feedback which highlighted the benefit that 4D Melbourne could have for school groups and students. Although the app will be able to function more effectively away from the dedicated locations, the best use of the app still remains the integration of a physical and digital experience.
Our biggest success from 4D Melbourne has been the opportunity to continue collaborating with each of our council partners. Team PHORIA is excited to work alongside these communities to promote civic engagement through technology.
Hear from some of our crucial collaborators and sponsors about the app:
“ Storytelling plays a significant role in many, many cultures, and this local-innovation enables a new means to visually tell stories. This smart-phone powered app is clearly a leap forward for us all in expanding our capacity to readily access information about Melbourne’s diverse cultural history. It enriches the quest for information in a most entertaining way which will be of interest to tourists and Melburnians alike.”
Councilor Dr Jackie Watts— Melbourne City Council.
“The new precinct will provide an environment where great minds from different disciplines collide to turn big ideas into pioneering products or services. We want app users to see how industry, researchers, government and the community will co-locate within the new precinct and collaborate to develop innovative solutions to major societal challenges,”
— Dr Julie Wells, University of Melbourne Vice-Principal Policy and Projects.
“The Convent is thrilled to collaborate with PHORIA to showcase our past, present and future through this exciting technology. This project shows the Convent in an exciting new light, from providing a rare glimpse into the opening of the Convent in 1901, to literally bringing our Laundries restoration project to life ahead of its opening. We hope this technology provides yet another reason for the public to visit Australia’s largest multi-arts precinct, particularly at this exciting time of change,”
— Collette Brennan, Abbotsford Convent Foundation CEO.
“We are the quintessential Village Market — a unique destination that embraces and curates all that is local and sustainable. We want app users to experience the Market in a fresh way, to see firsthand our efforts to live and breathe green — to provide fresh food, environmentally-friendly practice, and minimal waste,”
— South Melbourne Market
In their upcoming projects, the City of Port Phillip is focusing on creative strategy, the Abbotsford Convent Foundation are beginning to run Indigenous walking tours, while the City of Melbourne and Innovation District are pioneering world class AR activations on the site of the former Royal Women’s Hospital. It’s all go go go.
Many hands make light work, and we’re grateful to our friends at Port Phillip Council, Yarra City Council and Melbourne City Council for supporting 4D Melbourne.
We’re also thankful for the wonderful humans at the Abbotsford Convent Foundation, South Melbourne Market, and University of Melbourne — Innovation Precinct for agreeing to run with 4D Melbourne. See a behind the scenes video of how the Convent came to life:
Lastly, we also couldn’t have done without IBM, who were crucial in the process of bringing the app to life from a server infrastructure perspective.
While the stories told by 4D Melbourne commenced during MKW18, they will continue to run indefinitely. Take time to experience the awe for yourself and download the app, available on iOS and Android. Keep an eye out for future Markerless updates too.
These are exciting times ahead!
If you want to hear more of what Team PHORIA get up to and our upcoming projects like ShareVOX, check out our socials:
// YouTube
You can also go across to our website, or drop a line for me personally at trent@phoria.com.au.
That’s all from us — signing off.
