The Year of the Rooster is being celebrated by a set of hidden world adventures only viewable using the Augmented Reality camera. The first event experience is the Zodiac hunt, a fun and interactive quest where the twelve Chinese Zodiac animals are virtually scattered around the city centre. A map displaying locations of the animals will help hunters to find the Zodiac signs. Discovering any 3 of the animals, using the in-app built AR camera will earn hunters a prize which they can collect from a stand in the city centre. Each of the animals will convert into a coin which unlocks an animation of the animals and allows users to get information about that particular zodiac.
For the second experience, the app works with the Terracotta lantern warriors, a world-famous exhibition coming to Manchester for the Chinese New Year (http://chinesenewyearmcr.com/) festival. By pointing the camera at the lanterns, users can reveal hidden information and images on who the real Terracotta Warriors were and why they were built.
This year the light up replicas of the famous Terracotta Army arrives in Manchester and will be the main highlight of the Year of the Rooster celebrations. With the Buzzin app, users can locate 40 terracotta warriors and receive an AR experience when they point their camera towards the statues. The lanterns will be installed on Exchange Square from Tuesday 24 January.
Chinese New Year takes place on 26-29 January in Manchester, and the main celebrations will be held in Chinatown, Deansgate, Exchange Square and St. Ann’s Square. Every year it attracts thousands of visitors with the Dragon Dance parade, many festivities and special performances.
Sparta is developing the Buzzin app with Augmented Reality as a part of the CityVerve (http://www.cityverve.org.uk/), Manchester’s smart city demonstrator project. City Concierge is one of the projects within CityVerve through which TfGM aims to create new interactive digital wayfinding and navigation experiences within the city that are consistent with the physical signage. Part of this effort will be to promote walking and cycling within the city while promoting local events and businesses. Sparta Digital is working with TfGM to create a new head-up way-finding experience for the city, which will be enabled by Augmented Reality (AR) and proximity sensors installed around the city. Discovering local events and businesses will be a key part of this service to create an engaging experience.
