Press Release
Kids’ media company Azoomee has today announced the release of a brand-new Augmented Reality (AR) experience, which uses groundbreaking technology to allow kids to fully immerse themselves in history. Using PTC’s Vuforia Area Target environment tracking, which enables you to track and augment areas and spaces, this fast-growing tech and edutainment business has successfully delivered a truly immersive three-dimensional AR experience.
Azoomee’s AR experience was created in response to Austria’s 5G Use Case Challenge, laid down as part of the country’s drive to become the first European country with a city-wide 5G network. As part of Vienna’s 5G infrastructure expansion, Austria’s leading fixed and mobile network operator A1 provided its 5G network technology in the city’s historic Town Hall – providing the infrastructure needed for a fully immersive and educational AR experience.
AR Transforms a Historic Landmark
The Azoomee AR app takes a historical building and magically transforms it into a wonderland of imagination – merging fun and colourful animations with static surroundings, bringing the capital’s city hall to life. Painted historical figures jump on trampolines, play football, and perform skateboard tricks; the building transforming into a vibrant landscape, with bright trees popping up and loveable creatures dashing around. Some sections of the building even have underwater themes, with submarines zooming through, fish and stingrays flitting by, and deep-sea divers creating breath bubbles in the air.
City of Vienna Spokesperson said: “We’ve been very impressed with the quality of contributions to Vienna’s 5G Use Case Challenge, but Azoomee’s work in this space has been especially noted for the way it combines new technology with the city’s heritage. The way its AR app transforms the Rathaus into a digital environment that combines both fun and learning for children is the perfect example of what we hope to achieve with 5G. We are excited by the possibilities that this AR experience could be adapted to other locations both in Vienna and beyond.”
Douglas Lloyd, CEO of Azoomee, said: “We’re thrilled to use the dynamic capabilities of 5G and Vuforia to translate Vienna’s rich history into interactive augmented reality experiences that fit beautifully with Azoomee’s mission of making learning fun for children. This positive learning experience offers an amazing way to inspire kids to explore the past and immerse themselves in history. By tapping into learning on a visceral level, the Azoomee AR app allows kids to feel closer to the information they’re absorbing, and connect with the knowledge in a dynamic way. We hope that this is just the start and that we can bring this revolutionary experience to other historical sites throughout the world.”
Vuforia Area Targeting delivers unparalleled AR environments
PTC’s new Vuforia Area Target environment tracking feature allowed Azoomee to create a truly immersive three-dimensional AR experience. Thanks to its dual-lens camera and special tracking feature, Vuforia uses a 3D scan as an accurate model of the space to create an Area Target Device Database, easily delivering augmentations to stationary objects in the scanned environment.
With the brand-new Azoomee AR app, users can interactively explore their surroundings with real-time precision. Vuforia goes beyond occlusion and into more realistic physics and 3D mapping: if a child stands behind a pillar, the animation still works behind it. Azoomee joined Vuforia’s innovator programme to showcase this extraordinary technology and provide an unprecedented way for children to learn. Using Vuforia, the massive rooms of Vienna’s town hall were scanned, resulting in more than 800 square metres and two levels of interactive exploration.
