Explore Cal Poly Pomona through an augmented reality tour – an experience that uses new technology to highlight the campus’ rich history.
Walking through the Bronco Student Center, visitors will learn that in 1974 it was home to Cal Poly Pomona’s very own ice cream shop. A stroll by the swine unit reveals the story of the great pig-napping of 1969, when four Claremont students tried to steal a pig as part of a fraternity initiation prank.
The tour uses Layar, an app that utilizes a smart phone or tablet’s compass, GPS, accelerometer, and camera to overlay pictures, videos, and text onto a live display of the user’s surroundings. The free app works on the iPhone, Android, iPad, and Blackberry.
The project took over a year of work, including research, writing, and technical work by history professors Eileen Wallis and Anne Wohlcke and their students. They integrated photos, videos, text and audio files about 50 different points of interest on campus.
Wohlcke saw the augmented reality technology being used by historians and historical geographers in major cities and landmarks, and thought it was a great way to share historical information about locations at the site itself.
“Viewers do not have to enter a museum to learn about history — they can learn about history on the streets,” Wohlcke says.
“Many of the students took a huge personal interest in the project,” she adds. “They worked well over the number of hours required in class to find information our current students will find both informative and entertaining.”
Jason Beers, a multimedia designer and web consultant with MediaVision, took the student research and developed the final product in Layar.
“It was a pretty interesting experience trying to piece all the student-created information with the Layar software. I am very pleased with the result; the students did a great job.”
For instructions on how to take the tour, visit www.cpp.edu/~ar-75th.