An Augmented Reality app for tourism?
The Museum of London recently launched its own Augmented Reality (AR) app called StreetMuseum for the iPhone.
How it works
Simply select a destination in London from your phone’s GPS and hold your phone up from your present street location reveal the same location from many years in the past. The app will recognize the location and overlay a historical image over the live video feed of the real world. Dig deeper by tapping the info button for more information on that particular scene.
Imagine stepping into another decade or century from the very spot you’re standing. Museum of London has integrated hundreds of images from its collection into the app, including the Great Fire of 1666 to the sixties.
Big opportunities for tourism
What a fantastic tool this would be to offer a destination’s visitors. So many cities and tourist attractions have histories that are only captured in photographs, walking-n-pointing and bus tours, themed storefronts and re-enactments.
Imagine enticing your visitors with a self-guided near virtual trip through Gettysburg, Tombstone, or the Gold Rush? How about Woodstock? The Pike Place Market in Seattle over the past 100 years? The possibilities seem endless for any destination with years of photography.
Way more than a map
This app offers so much more than points on a map. Entice visitors with a taste of what they’d experience inside local restaurants, hotels, attractions, entertainment and cultural venues.
The tie-ins with location-based marketing seem obvious here, too. Sponsored treasure hunts or promotional tours. A fam trip gone virtual. Haunted house tours? Who knows where this will go.
Could something like a custom AR tour of an area be added value for membership?
With AR, destination marketing opportunities can become a ‘virtual’ attraction with the increasing tech-savvy traveler and tourist. Some 50 million iPhones have been sold worldwide – in addition to millions of iTouches, Androids, BlackBerries and other mobile gadgets.
Now I just need to get to London to check this app out! [iTunes link]
Images linked to Museum of London »
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