Mobile applications have increasingly become a regular part of the outreach and engagement strategies of many cultural institutions. As smart phone use grows, some organizations have sought to go beyond typical mobile applications and integrate location-based and augmented reality technology as a way to further access to collections, create new methods for understanding and interpreting the items, and increase communication between the organizations and the communities they serve. In Spring 2010, the City of Philadelphia Department of Records received an NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up grant to investigate mobile augmented reality technology for use in displaying overlays of historic photographs on the current urban landscape. Users simply point the cameras on their smart phones at a location of interest and the historic photographs and selected data related to the site are automatically accessed right through the camera display. The project utilized the resources of PhillyHistory.org, a collaborative online database of historic photographs and maps from five Philadelphia area institutions, and the PhillyHistory.org smart phone web application, a location-based web app that provides access to the collections via iPhone and Android smart phones. As a growing number of museums and humanities institutions from Philadelphia to London to Sydney are turning their attention to new technologies like augmented reality to revitalize interest in their collections, this paper will examine the state of mobile augmented reality technology and its current and possible applications for use within cultural institutions. Through an exploration and evaluation of the successes and challenges of the Department of Records’ augmented reality project, we will investigate how this technology can be applied to other archives and museums and whether such efforts have proven valuable as an engagement and outreach tool. A presentation from Museums and the Web 2011 (MW2011).

2. Implementing Mobile Augmented
Reality Applications for
Cultural Institutions
Museums and the Web 2011
Deborah Boyer
April 9, 2011
@debsting
Deborah Boyer
dboyer@azavea.com
@debsting

3. Deborah Boyer
@debsting
Museums and the Web
Photo: Deb Boyer
9 April 2011 Photo: Deb Boyer

4. Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

5. Map Search Page
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

6. PhillyHistory.org, a project of
the Philadelphia Department of Records
 5 organizations
- Philadelphia City Archives
- Philadelphia Water Department
- Office of the City Representative
- Library Company of Philadelphia
- Free Library of Philadelphia
 Over 93,000 historic
photographs and maps
 Over 6,700 registered users
 13,000 unique visitors per
month
 Runs on Sajara platform
Camp Independence, Civil War Recruiting Camp
Museums andCompany of Philadelphia via PhillyHistory.org
The Library the Web
9 April 2011

7. 12th and Market Streets, 1914
Philadelphia City Archives via PhillyHistory.org
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

8. Rat Receiving Station, 1914
Museums and the Web
Philadelphia City Archives via PhillyHistory.org
9 April 2011 www.phillyhistory.org

9. Mobile Web App
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

10. Why Augmented Reality?
• NEH Digital Humanities Start-
Up Grant
 Investigate AR tech as a tool in
cultural institutions
 Connect the past to the
present
 Engage users in the study of
history, architecture, and
photography using mobile
technology
Students and pretzel vendor at West Philadelphia
High School, 1934.
Philadelphia City Archives via PhillyHistory.org  Build on the rich geographic
resources of PhillyHistory.org
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

11. The Details
 Investigate building a custom app for Android platform
 Investigate building a custom app for iOS platform
 Use existing AR framework
 500 images as overlays on the current landscape
 Local historians to provide contextual information
 One year, limited budget, resulting white paper
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

12. Results
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

13. Three of the Many Things We Learned
Why we went with Layar
2D billboards in a 3D world
Scaling
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

14. Layar
 Time
 Resources
 Branding
 New Development
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

15. Pinning in 3D Space; or,
you spin me right round
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

16. Deborah Boyer
@debsting
: Josh Marcus
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

17. Google Street View
1911 2009
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

18. Issues
Fig. 1 Viewing at the Fig. 2 Viewing from the Side Fig. 3 Viewing the Edge
Intended Angle at 60° Angle at a 90° Angle
Fig. 4 Viewing from Fig. 5 Viewing from Behind Fig. 6 Calculating the
Directly Behind and to the Side Viewing Angle
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

19. Scaling; or, why add 500
Deborah Boyer
@debsting
images when you can add
90,000?
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

20. Three Levels of Access
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

21. Deborah Boyer
@debsting
Museums and the Web
Diagram: Erik Osheim
9 April 2011

22. Benefits
 Introduce collections to new audiences
 Take advantage of growing smartphone use
 Open up additional educational and
collaborative opportunities
 Generate excitement
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

23. Managing Expectations
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

24. Philebrity.com on January 19, 2011
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

25. What’s Next?
•Gyroscope
•Open Source
•Improve the
pinning
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

26. Augmented Reality
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

27. This should be fun!
Photo: Rachel Cheetham-Richard
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

28. Sharing Information
 White paper available soon – sign up at http://
www.azavea.com/augmented-reality
 Developers blogging about building the app at
http://www.azavea.com/blogs/labs/
 App available in Android Market and coming
soon to Apple App Store.
Museums and the Web
9 April 2011

29. Implementing Mobile Augmented
Reality Applications for
Cultural Institutions
Deborah Boyer
Museums and the Web 2011
@debsting
April 9, 2011
Deborah Boyer
dboyer@azavea.com
@debsting
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this presentation or
project do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.