Mobile for the Cultural Sector event presentations

1. Tidy City
and other mixed reality experiences
Collaborative Virtual and Augmented Environments
Dr. Leif Oppermann
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

2. Fraunhofer FIT
 Fraunhofer
 60 institutes
 18.000 employees
 Invented MP3
 Fraunhofer Institute for Applied
Information Technology FIT
 Sankt Augustin near Bonn
 Headed by Prof. Jarke
 Goal: optimize the applicability and
usability of IT
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

3. What is Augmented Reality (AR)?
 Variation of Virtual Reality (VR)
 AR extends perception; VR replaces it
 Key characteristics (Azuma,1997):
 Combines real and virtual
 Interactive in real time
 Registered in 3D
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

4. The context of our work
Reality
Virtual Reality
Mixed Reality – MR
Augmented Reality Augmented Virtuality
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

5. What does FIT offer in this context?
 >15 years experience in building MR systems,
novel user interfaces and interaction techniques
 Putting ideas into practice
 Cooperative prototyping
 Recent highlights
 Gandhara exhibition
 Underwater AR
 Mobile AR game „TimeWarp“
 3D Multitouch interface
 Mobile, easy to configure location-based game
„Tidy City“
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

6. Example 1: Gandhara
 Interactive 3D stereo visualisation of the Bamiyan Buddha
 for the German Arts and Exhibition Hall
 Shown in Bonn and Berlin 2008-2009
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

7. Example 2: Timewarp
 Mobile AR Game
 Playful environment for learning about the
historical background of cities
 Here: Cologne
 Quest for the vanished „Heinzelmännchen“
of Cologne in different epoches
 Audio visual design to give historical
impression
 Participants aid Heinzelmännchen
 Live for a month in early 2010
 Big press coverage
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

8. Reducing the effort of staging
 Huge efforts for staging Gandhara,
Time Warp, and similar experiences
Mobile
 Having a venue Location
 Writing the software
 Designing the content Authoring
 Providing the hardware
 Orchestrating the experience
 ...
Ease of use
 Too much effort for high impact
 Democratisation of creation process
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

9. TOTEM – Theories and Tools for Distributed Authoring
of Mobile Mixed Reality Games
 Project start: September 2009
 3 year duration
 Partner: Fraunhofer FIT, Germany & Carnot Institut
TELECOM EURECOM, France
 Main Goals:
 Provide tools for creation and orchestration of
Mobile Mixed Reality Games
 Build a community around these tools
 Explore game design and presence research
questions concerning such games
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

10. From complex to simple
Time Warp
Geocaching
Complex
• Limited time Simple
• Expensive
• Few users • Always on
• Affordable
• Mass market
Gandhara
Tidy City
Can you see
me now?
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

11. Tidy City, a mixed-reality scavenger hunt
 The world is in confusion. Landmarks have become
dislocated, cities are in disarray. Players can tidy up
by picking up misplaced items and bring them back
to their proper locations. // Michael Straeubig
 The name of the game is a reference to the project
“tidy up art” of the Swiss artist Ursus Wehrli
 Developed as part of the TOTEM project on
authoring mobile mixed reality games
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

12.  Solve location-based riddles
 Overview
 Pick-up
 Discover
 Solve & score
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

13.  Preparing for a workshop in-situ
with the location survey tool
 Finishing at the desktop using
the web-based authoring system
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

14. Impressions from public stagings
Video:
http://www.totem-games.org/?q=node/111
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

15. Tidy City facts
 Scalable location-based game concept
 Casual game, no time pressure
 Easy game mechanics
 Players interact and discover
 Works on consumer Android devices
 Comes with simple authoring tools
 Fits educational, cultural, heritage settings
 Does it fit your setting?
 We offer workshops
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

16. Further information
 Fraunhofer FIT
Schloss Birlinghoven
53754 Sankt Augustin
Germany
 Contact:
Leif Oppermann
leif.oppermann@fit.fraunhofer.de
+49(0)2241 – 14 27 24
 www.totem-games.org
© Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT