Whether it’s the speedometer in the windshield of a car or searching for virtual Pokemon from a video game in the real environment – augmented reality technology has become an integral part of everyday life. “Augmented reality”, literally: “Augmented Reality”, is understood to mean adding real impressions with additional information controlled by a computer.
Dachau concentration camp site with new mobile app
On this basis, the Berlin-based company “Zaubar” has programmed the ARt mobile application, which visitors* can now use at the Dachau concentration camp memorial. The name ARt is made up of the acronym AR for augmented reality and the English word for art “art”.
The principle of augmented reality is that people’s sensory impressions are not replaced, but only expanded.
What special in a historical place like this Dachau concentration camp site A key criterion, as Project Director Nicole String emphasizes, is: “On this site in particular, it is especially important that we always know where the boundary is between the present and the historical past of the place. And that people recognize these boundaries and feel.”
POW graphics in augmented reality
An important part of the application is excerpts from drawings drawn by prisoners at Dachau. These can be called up in the app at different locations on the memorial site and are always provided with their historical context.
In addition to the application available for free in App Store And Google Play Store Available, the memorial wants to post an offer online at the beginning of October: “We also want to give people who are unable to visit the site in person the opportunity to use the app,” says Nicole String.
In addition, the site is designed in simple language to provide people with limited knowledge of the German language the opportunity to take advantage of the offer.
This is how the app works in the memorial
The app consists of five locations spread across the concentration camp memorial site. The interactive tour of the site with the application takes one hour.
There are signs throughout the memorial site with an OR code that can be scanned using a mobile phone or tablet. “After scanning the QR code, the app directs the user to a virtual street that leads them to the event in question,” explains Stefan Marks, one of the developers of the new app.
The initial feedback is positive
In addition to the prisoners’ overlayed graphics, users can also play audio files or subtitles so that they can also be used by the hard of hearing.
The goal of the new app is to engage the younger generation and bring visitors closer to the inmates’ history of the concentration camp, says Nicole String. At the testing stage of the application, there were already positive comments: users of the application reported that they were able to find better access to the subject thanks to augmented reality.
