Nat Geo’s Augmented Reality Attracts 48.000 Visitors at Milan’s CityLife

Published: July 6, 2018

INDE’s giant-screen wildlife themed AR experience has been installed as a unique, interactive addition to the National Geographic Photo Ark exhibition, launched at CityLife Shopping District at the end of June. The project was led by GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, one of Italy’s leading publishing groups, publisher of National Geographic Italia.

“We have just launched a photographic exhibit in CityLife, a new prestigious neighborhood and shopping district in Milan. The exhibit – partly outdoors and partly indoors – is based on ‘Photo Ark’, a project by the famous National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore aimed at documenting animal species before they disappear, and getting people to care about the risks of animal extinction while there’s still time. A crucial part of this exhibit is an augmented reality system produced by INDE, featuring a stunning series of AR animal footage.

The AR system is proving to be a great attraction for children and families, and plays a great part in the success of the exhibit. The first weekend alone has seen the participation of 48.000 people, and we expect to see these results in the coming weekends as well. Collaborating with INDE has been a very positive and productive experience, and based on this success we are sure we will find new opportunities to work on new projects with INDE in the future,”  said Lorenzo D'Auria on behalf of GEDI.

The AR show, called Air, Land & Sea, allows shoppers to travel to some incredible locations to meet and interact with a diverse range of animals from Africa to the Arctic as they graze, drink and approach the viewers in a unique 3D environment.

Life-sized, photo-realistic leopards, giraffes, elephants and other animals, as well as animated water and land create a perfect mixture of digital content and real world elements, in a fun and engaging interactive group experience. Such level of immersion does not only require years of expertise in developing AR experiences, but it is also associated with exceptionally high-quality 3D content, which INDE has been committed to, since the 2011 launch of their large-screen BroadcastAR system.

Alex Poulson, INDE’s CEO said: “When we realised the power of augmented reality back in 2010 there was still a huge distance to travel to allow an app-free experience everyone could enjoy. BroadcastAR was built to bridge that gap and allow collective experience without any action on part of the visitor. It still evolves today to bring engagement and information to people from Guatemala to Singapore.”