A brand-new augmented reality (AR) art trail featuring moving images has been launched by Marketing Sheffield.
The AR art trail is the first of its kind using the augmented reality experience in an art trail as it has never been done in this way before.
Mark Mobbs, 38, Place Brand and Marketing Manager for Sheffield said: “It’s a really fun way of seeing the world around you a bit differently and you know, it’s a really simple thing.
AR allows people to see images using technology that are not there is the physical world.
Mr Mobbs said: “You can take pictures and videos of yourself using it and you can share this really cool content with the world.”
The app offers the people in Sheffield a unique cultural experience that is completely free to use from their phones.
Mr Mobbs said: “It’s really difficult. I’m a parent of young kids myself. It’s really hard to find a lot of things to do that are free at the minute.
“I wanted it to be a sort of beacon for Sheffield that showed we value culture as a city and this is something that people can do for free.”
The app has been funded by the £900m ‘Getting Building Grant’ from central government. However, it has not yet been confirmed how much it has cost taxpayers.
At the moment there are four locations that people can visit on the app, but Mr Mobbs hopes that they will be able to add new points to the trail as they work with new partners and get more funding.
Mr Mobbs said: “That’ll help grow a bit more attention. The investment that was made into the app is deliberately with a long-term view. So, I wasn’t expecting it to suddenly be a global phenomenon.
“Ultimately there might be a point where people travel to Sheffield just to come and do this art trail.”
There were three main motivations for the Marketing Sheffield team as they want to give local people a great cultural experience, get more tourism into the city and generate further talent attraction.
Gawen Chillingworth, 21, a Business student at the University of Sheffield said: “It’s quite strange and quirky. I’d say it’s interesting for kids and something that I’m sure they would get excited about.
“But, for me personally, the novelty wears off once you’ve done it once and it’s not something I’d be keen on going back to. But seeing it for the first time was pretty fun and unique.”
Niantic Labs are the well-known San Francisco based developers of the Pokémon Go mobile game who helped in the making of the Look Up app.
Mr Mobbs said: “This is the first time that the new tool they’ve made has been used in this way. So, they’re really excited and that tells us that as augmented reality grows, we’re kind of leading on this, and that’s really exciting.”
What is augmented reality?
Niantic Labs have developed the GPS technology called semantic segmentation which also works with the understanding of the heights and the dimensions of buildings in the physical environment.
This gives the effect where artwork looks as if they are anchored to the buildings in a virtual sense, using the collusions planes technology built by Megaverse.
Mr Mobbs said: “It’s not fixed to a location in the real world. That’s the unique bit. So, as far as we’re aware, no one’s done it in this way before.”