It was 10 years ago that our team launched the world's first full-fledged augmented reality park. We made a virtual reconstruction of the Livonian Order castle in the tiny Latvian town of Ludza.
Those were the wild times, when Pokémon were not running on the streets yet, and there were no such tools as ARKit or ARCore. So our developers had to invent everything themselves, right on the spot. We experimented a lot, tried different technical approaches, tested all the solutions that existed at that time. It was then that the first developments were made, which became the basis for our methodology of remote content positioning, and then our own SDK Arcona Core.
Our reconstruction artists also had a hard time! Ludza castle was completely destroyed in the XVII century, and there is very little information about its history and appearance.
Imagine a high hill above the lake, on top of which stands a small piece of brick wall... This is all that remains of the once powerful crusader fortress. We gathered information from local historians and archaeologists. Some details had to be created simply by analogy with Livonian fortresses of the same period. We even had to specially write out old books from Poland, in old German with engravings of castles. But we managed to cope with the Old German as well, and a majestic castle grew back in Ludza!
In the first month our app was viewed by almost 30 thousand tourists, although about 5 thousand people live in Ludza itself. People spent hours walking around the castle mountain and were absolutely delighted. Local restaurateurs and owners of souvenir shops then appreciated all the advantages of innovative technologies.
And then, German archeologists came to the ruins of the castle and as a result of excavations confirmed all our guesses. So, in Polish archives it was mentioned that there was a large stable for a hundred horses on the castle territory. We debated for a long time where it could have been, and chose the most convenient and logical place for it. It was there that scientists discovered the foundations of this building. Our reconstruction was found to be absolutely authentic and is now on display at the local history museum.
The world of technology has changed dramatically in the past ten years! Now you - digital archaeologists and reconstructors - have all the tools to realize your ideas. Today on the Arcona platform you can organize your own AR park literally in a day. And our team is always ready to help.
Reminder that Arcona XR Metaverse announces a contest of AR tourism projects
Five winners will receive grants from the Metaverse
Applications will be accepted until April 1.
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