Hi-tech augmented reality Inverness city tours could be among the first in Britain
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INVERNESS could find itself at the cutting edge of the technological revolution if it follows through on ambitious plans for bringing augmented reality to the heart of the city.
Highland Council has confirmed it is working on a project to create a smartphone app for the city using augmented reality (AR), a technology similar to that used for the Pokemon Go game craze.
It allows smartphone users to point their device at a particular place in the real world and access a range of information on-screen as graphics or text.
While stressing that the project was at an early stage, the council confirmed it was working with Darroch McNaught, chief creative officer of Inverness-based games and app developer DeuXality.
Mr McNaught has already given a presentation to the council’s city arts working group where the potential for the technology to be used to create a "digital trail" river walk was discussed.
While he was keen not to reveal too much of the detail of discussions at this stage, speaking exclusively to the Inverness Courier he said the potential for the technology was huge.
"It’s all about enhancing the experience of users and allowing them to access more information in a far easier and potentially much more dynamic way," he said.
"So, for example, if you took Inverness Castle, you have an app that means when you point your phone at it you get on-screen access to a list of facts about its history or whatever it is that it’s been decided to share. You could even get image overlays showing how the castle has changed over the years, views of different parts of the inside of it or whatever.
"In the case of an artwork you might be able to access details on the artist who created it or even a video of them creating the work itself.
"It opens up a whole new way of experiencing the world and accessing information about it that would be good as a learning tool for children or as something to add to the visitor experience for tourists or even residents who just want to find out more about the place they live in."
Mr McNaught said he was not aware of any other area of Britain that was using AR extensively in public spaces yet and that Inverness would certainly be at the "cutting edge" if it goes ahead with this.
It appears to fit well with recent moves that have seen a free wi-fi zone established in the city centre using money received as part of the City Deal, which Provost Helen Carmichael said was about positioning the city and Highlands as "a region of digital opportunity".
Talks are also still ongoing about the possibility of Inverness becoming the latest Gigabit City, a commercially-led initiative to bring ultrafast internet links to the Highlands that could have huge benefits for schools, hospitals and other public sector clients as much as for businesses.
The Gigabit City efforts have been supported by Inverness MP Drew Hendry who said he wanted to end the practice of the Highlands always being at the "back of the queue" for technological developments.
Mr McNaught said the cost of the new technology to create a "meaningful" AR experience for users would be relatively low, estimating his own costs for developing an app at around £2500.
It should also be able to work on most modern smartphones and tablets, he said, ensuring accessibility is as wide as possible.
Mr McNaught worked with Inverness Museum and Art Gallery last year to create an AR experience for its Building Blocks exhibition as part of the national Festival of Architecture.
As a "relatively simple" exercise he created an experience that allowed users to see the museum’s Wolf Stone exhibit unfold and open up to show a running wolf "inside" it.
"It can be quite a labour intensive process and you obviously need specialist skills to do it, but because it’s what I do it’s the kind of thing I can turn around fairly quickly," he said.
"The possibilities are already quite extensive and growing all the time as the technology develops."
