DiscovAR

Your Immersive Augmented Reality travel Companion

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Inspiration

Embarking on journeys, I often find myself exploring the local attractions – museums, nature reserves, stores, restaurants, and more. Amidst these explorations, a desire consistently emerges: to effortlessly unearth the stories and secrets of these locales without constantly searching the web for information. This yearning sparked the idea of DiscovAR – a tool not just for discovery, but for immersive, engaging and informed exploration.

What it does

Envision this: you're standing before a historical monument, curiosity piqued. Instead of delving into a web search, you simply take out your phone, point it at the site, and voilà – an immersive Augmented Reality (AR) narrative unfolds. This is DiscovAR – an experience that transforms passive observation into an engaging journey of discovery. Additionally, restaurants and stores come alive with AR marketing, inviting you to explore what they uniquely offer.

How we built it

DiscovAR is a symphony of technology and creativity. Utilizing geolocation-based anchors, each site is endowed with its own AR assets, visible to any app user. Developed in Unity, these assets span 3D models with captivating animations, enthralling audio, and informative video files. Experience a 360-degree view of interactive 3D models, each tap revealing stories and facts, including playful elements like an AR piano that resonates with your touch, all accessible through my meticulously crafted Android application.

Challenges we ran into

Curating content for each location, as mentioned in our inspiration, was a tedious task, but it only needs to be done once by me! Crafting and sourcing these assets demanded time and dedication, but the thought of enriching countless explorations made every moment worthwhile. Physical visits to each location for recording demonstrations were exhilarating. I grappled with GPS and VPS limitations, especially under the cloak of evening, but these hurdles only added to the adventure.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What began as a hopeful endeavour to enrich a single location blossomed into a multifaceted experience across numerous sites. Bridging the gap between Native Android applications and Unity, especially in the realm of AR, was a path less trodden. After many hours and overcoming numerous challenges, I achieved a seamless integration that I am immensely proud of.

What we learned

This was my first time developing a Location-based application. It was a journey of learning and discovery, delving into the intricacies of the Google Maps API, mastering motion tracking, environmental understanding, light estimation, and the art of rendering photorealistic 3D Tiles. I navigated the complexities of terrain and rooftop anchors and the nuances of geospatial coordinates in application development.

What's next for DiscovAR

Currently, DiscovAR brings to life the essence of Stony Brook, Long Island. My vision is to expand this canvas and add new locations in the future. Furthermore, I aspire to evolve the Android app into a personalized guide, offering tailored recommendations to each user, thereby transforming every journey into an unforgettable narrative.

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