Manchester Art Gallery Google Glass

Helping to bring Google Glass to Manchester

Background

Back in 2013, we thought about what will the next big thing on the consumer technology market. While visiting the Augmented World Expo in 2013 we met one of the early Google Glass explorers, Cecilia Abadie. Using her development expertise and Manchester Art Gallery as a local partner and funding from Manchester Metropolitan University, the first Google Glass Art Gallery project in Europe was born in September 2013.

Challenge

Manchester Google Glass project, led by MMU’s AR Team was aiding Manchester in its aim to become a leading Smart City for digital technologies. Visitors to Manchester’s Art Gallery experienced Google Glass, receiving augmented information to create a unique user experience of cultural heritage.

Creative approach

Manchester Art Gallery, Martin Grimes, Web Manager:

"This has been an exciting and engaging project to be involved with, helping us consider how we’ll develop interpretive and augmented content for our visitors as they increasingly bring wearable technology into the gallery spaces. Image recognition and voice control are new paradigms of interaction which may point towards the development of highly responsive, immersive tours for our visitors."

Outcome

Using wearable augmented reality was found to attract new target markets, create an interactive experience and museum tour as well as enhance the learning experience.