Use case of Augmented Reality (AR) in Tourism
We have build solutions in augmented reality (AR) that is able to transform the experience of tourism within the industry through its digital and immersive experiences.
The common unmet demands of experience of tourism around the world mainly consist of the following three:
- Personalized Travel Experiences
- Seamless and Accessible Information
- Cultural Engagement
Personalized Travel Experiences gives each individual a unique experience that is tailored to the tourist themselves. Tourist also struggles or not given immediate seamless and accessible information to appreciate what is in front of them which also limits them towards cultural engagement.
Google’s birth to simple AR experiences
Based on the demand above, in 2024, even google has stepped in to provide solutions with AR with their new Google geospatial VPS. The Google geospatial VPS AR solution has tremendously simplified the AR experience by eliminating all the barriers of setting up an AR scene, making it as simple as starting the app anywhere in the world and immediately seeing the AR digital content placed in front of you via GPS coordinates.
Here are some features that our company has built based on Google’s geospatial VPS that we recommend and is beneficial for AR tourism.
Interactive Guides
Google maps are an essential tool for navigating an unfamiliar place. However google maps is not built exclusively for tourism as it contains features that covers other aspects of usage of a digital directions map.
By creating an AR tourism map with the same UI as google maps, we are able to allow the user to focus purely on tourism only. As shown above, we created a custom map that is as identical to google maps but only focuses on tourist preferred hotspots such as restaurants excluding unnecessary business premises and information only useful for a tour by simplifying the user interface.
Enhanced visitor experience
By overlaying digital content on an ordinary landmark can dramatically transform the experience of the tourist by adding a layer of depth to make the scene way more sophisticated.
Without the need to hire people to be guides stationed at specific locations to engage the tourist, a Non Playable Character (NPC) can be placed at significant locations via GPS for the tourist to engage with. Such NPC has artificial intelligent (AI) implemented inside them which could intelligently engage with the user. These NPCs are tireless and have no downtime. They are also able to leave an impression towards the scene and delight your audiences with magical experiences through their character.
Having the ability to augment creative content transform an already mesmerizing place into artistic scene as though representing a piece of art.
Navigation Assistance
We have a feature where the we allow the user to create a trail path or moving indicators in a VR scene allows the tourist to confidently navigate themselves through the area as well.
Just like how a tour guide as a person whose job is to bring the tourist around the hotspot, an NPC inside an AR scene can be able to guide the tourist towards the destination.
As you can see above, our large round purple NPC we created was then able to intelligently navigate around the streets leading the way for the tourist to follow behind. Unlike tourist who are mostly bound to the time and pace of the tour guide that does not wait for the tourist, the NPC tour guide will patiently stay on course and wait for the tourist while it continues on its path.
Cultural Engagement
AR is able to bring cultural stories to life. 2D Labels gives direct information like an information board, while 3D character NPCs are able to tell the story or even have the character dress up in cultural clothing to enhance the experience of the story telling.
Although AR can be activated with a QR code anchoring it to the scene by scanning targets, Google’s Geospatial VPS immediately allows the user to enjoy such engagement instantly.
Whether it is a mural or a sculpture, AR will be able to bring that installation to life in front of the tourist. by allowing it to be interactable like a computer NPC.
Educational content and creative interactions can be deeply memorable for the tourist. We collaborated with Aeon and Mamee monster and allow others to take photos with Mamee monster. These engagements encourage the tourist to share their experience with others and with their encounters with AR on the scene.
There are various NPCs that are amazing in an tourism scene such as, a game NPC – an NPC that plays mini games with you based on settings of real physical scenes, quiz NPC that gives you a quick quiz, a treasure hunt NPC that asks you to find treasures placed in a world.
Personalized Experiences
Because a content can easily exist on a scene with AR, tourist can easily tailor the experience in their app so that only the essential elements and points of interest are bring displayed and recommended towards the user preference. This saves the tourist significant time and money which allows them to maximise their holiday experience.
With personalisation, even the tourist’s preferred narrative of a scene is able to be tailored towards the information they enjoy. Instead of expecting a tour guide to adapt to several dozen tourist at the same time, it is easier adapting every single audience with their preferred NPC character.
Full tech demo
The tech demo below shall demonstrate all the features mentioned in the article above that addresses all the demand of tourism and solve it with augmented reality.
Summary
Our tech is ready for deployment. For time being, the only way to let users to enjoy these features is to build the app. We do have a WebAR version as well where the users does not require to download the app but is able to load them based on their web browser however, it will not be mentioned in this article.
Contact Us
If you do have any further questions, feel free to Whatsapp me personally at +60166850069 as I will be happy to share more and accommodate you. Our company is open to collaborations and projects from various entities.