Virtual reality app highlights Penn State campus landmarks

The Penn State University Park campus is ornamented by senior class gifts that date back to the late 1800s and a team of Penn State researchers has developed a mobile virtual reality app that highlights some of the more popular landmarks.

Through the lens of a virtual reality headset, users are instantly transported to University Park, where they can visit some of the campus’s most recognizable relics. The trip is made possible by ChoroPhronesis, a research team operating within the Department of Geography that focuses on immersive virtual reality.

The group developed the app as part of a campus modeling project that began about two years ago, according to Alexander Klippel, associate professor of geography and founder of CP.

As the campus model project was evolving, Klippel began taking 360-degree images of landmarks, such as the Obelisk and the Old Main bell. Postdoctoral researcher Jan Oliver Wallgruen, along with graduate and undergraduate students, developed the mobile app that features 10 class gifts on the virtual tour, but Klippel said he expects more to be added.

“The iVR app is not actually geared specifically toward visitors, but anyone who is interested in experiencing Penn State, from an incoming international student to homesick alumni,” Klippel said.

Last year, CP announced the development of a historical 3-D modeling app that used maps and images provided by the university’s historical collection to recreate what campus buildings looked like in the 1920s.

“What we will be able to do is to offer a time warp function in the app and instead of standing in front of Old Main of today, you will be able to experience Old Main in 1922,” Klippel said.

The group has about 10 projects in development, one of which, Kippel said is an augmented reality app for campus visitors that is similar to Pokemon Go.

“In this case people will be able to hold up their phone to Old Main, for example, and could get information about Old Main but also a visual experience of what Old Main looked like in 1922,” Kippel said.

The class gift app is available in the Google Play store as a beta release, Kippel said, but to make the app available in the Apple store additional funding will need to be raised.

CP will be presenting its work at the Penn State booth during the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts next week.

This story was originally published July 7, 2017 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Virtual reality app highlights Penn State campus landmarks."