Ipipri Digital Trails: Augmented Reality

Abstract

Augmented reality is a growing technology about bridging the gap between the virtual world and the real world. Most people carry around a mobile phone that is equipped with a rear-facing camera and a touch screen. Augmented reality applications make use of the rear-facing camera to place virtual elements such as three-dimensional models into the physical environment. The Ipipri digital trails project is a larger project developed by the Russell Museum that aims to showcase Māori history in Kororāreka (now known as Russell). This project developed augmented reality elements that will enhance the experience of users by showcasing three-dimensional models that people can view anywhere. Augmented reality is a relatively new technology with many features being experimental, which comes with large trade-offs. The largest is speed versus accuracy. This project leans towards the speed side of this trade-off as the accurate placement of models was not a priority. The solution that was developed uses persistent ray casting to determine where in the physical environment should be the origin of the virtual scene. This allows for the instant placement of models into the virtual scene and then uses depth information to further refine the virtual scene. Along with the augmented reality elements the solution also includes a quick response (QR) code scanning system. This allows users to scan a code to choose which model is used for augmented reality. This project is important to help make learning the history and stories of Kororāreka more engaging by giving people a visual element that is hard to otherwise recreate.