Hindsight

A Transitional Experience for Climate Awareness

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Inspiration

We chose to answer a challenge, given by the Iceland University of the Arts: How can design, art and technology battle climate change?

What it does

Hindsight is an interactive art installation and a mobile application, that gives users the ability to see back in time the changes to the surrounding area.

Marker stones are set up in areas of interest, that users are able to scan with the app. This will bring up a chronological history of the area, presented in a 360 degree photograph/artistic recreation, that the user can explore by looking around with the phone, using AR technology. Users would be able to roll back in time and see how the area has changed over a period.

A marker stone can be put in areas where dramatic changes or historical moments have happened in recent history, for example near glaciers that have experienced a lot of melting, sites of drastic deforestation, and city centers that have undergone extensive redevelopment.

Users would also be able to use the app to browse through implemented locations, without needing to be at the site. However, we believe that the optimum experience is achieved by witnessing these changes to an area, as the user is located where it happened and the marker stones would serve as a visual notification to a passerby that they can explore the area with the app. We believe that by installing a marker stone, that can be used in conjunction with the application, we would offer an interactive experience that has a lower impact to the scenery of the surrounding area as opposed to installing a large sign with static images of its history.

How we built it

We created basic prototype using proto.io Prototype is available here: link

Challenges we ran into

Due to the competition only being 24 hours, we were limited by time and were only able to briefly brainstorm and work on a visual prototype. All our focus went into finishing the idea, rather than implementation.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are confident that we have succeeded in creating an exciting tool, that can successfully promote climate awareness in a subtle manner. By focusing on historical changes, the application takes on the role of an educator, without coming off as being preachy. We believe that the greatest effect of understanding climate change is not through lecturing but rather actual experience.

We also believe this is a very manageable goal that can start off as a small scale project while having the potential of being scalable. Once a location has been implemented and added to the application, the maintenance of it is fairly low and more and more sites can be added as time goes on.

What we learned

We learned a lot about drastic changes to Icelandic glaciers and wish to spotlight that experience in the application. We also now believe that there have been a certain lack of visual record keeping in areas that have been disturbed or undergone extensive redevelopment and wish to correct that mistake.

What's next for Hindsight

We suggest a partnership between the University of Arts and the Icelandic tourist board, to procure funding for the app development as well as the marker stones. The project would contribute to furthering Reykjavík's standing as a smart city, by providing tourists and locals alike with interactive experience of its history, where they would be able to take a step back into the past using modern technology. The tourist board can then utilize it to promote climate awareness, and historical revisionism, by allowing travelers to experience historical moments as well as climate impact.

Built With

  • mobile-phone-application
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