Augmented Reality Van Tour: a proposal.
I used to live in a van down by the river.
My partner and I spent 8 months converting a Sprinter Van to a tiny home on wheels. The process while difficult was also an enlightening experiment in human-centered design. Each element within the van is built to hold certain gear and accommodate a specific style of life. One of the things I enjoyed most about the process of building was that if something broke we knew how to fix it.
Since our time in the van, the #vanlife phenomenon has exploded, especially with the onset of covid and people wanting their own space while traveling. This has created growth in the van rental market. Oftentimes when someone rents a van there is a lengthy tour process and explanation of the van systems and how they work. For my final Critical Making project, I will be teaming up with Caleb Hammel and consulting with Jacque Walo to build an augmented reality van tour/users guide.
We will utilize AR to highlight the different van systems such as water, solar, heat, and bed conversion, just to name a few. Not only will we highlight the systems and how they work but we will show potential renters how to empty greywater, and monitor the battery health. Using AR, renters will have a van guide in their pocket to make sure their trip goes smoothly.
Additionally, we will use AR to highlight unique features in the van. Vans converted for full-time living often are full of hidden tricks to streamline small living. We will use our product to highlight the uniqueness of the van and help people appreciate the art in van building.
I think one of our biggest challenges for this project will be figuring out how to use SparkAR. We are looking to include a lot of images and information so understanding how to organize and build in a streamlined way will be important. We do not plan on using any materials aside from mobile devices. We will have access to my van so we hope to have people walk through the van and experience the AR for our final presentation.
Since there are two of us working on the project we hope to build out branding and an app experience for van renters.
Moving forward our first milestone will be content strategy and laying out what elements we want to highlight using AR. From there we will be gathering the necessary photos and beginning to build out in SparkAR.
