Gooii has been commissioned by Connecting Cambridgeshire, on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council, to create innovative Augmented Reality (AR) content for Cambridge’s 19th century Corn Exchange venue. It will improve its visitor engagement and test out its new 5G Open RAN network.
The commission comes after Gooii secured funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to become a project partner for the Cambridgeshire Open RAN Ecosystem (CORE) project in October.
The content will test the newly created 5G Open RAN network, which will be in operation at Cambridge’s Corn Exchange.
Read our blog about this new network and how it will be used in High Demand Density locations.
In addition to the DSIT part-funded research and development work, Connecting Cambridgeshire requires an agency to develop ‘use case’ content for the Corn Exchange. A ‘use case’ outlines the interaction between a user and a system to achieve a specific goal. It details the steps, actions and outcomes involved. In this case, the goal is to use AR to celebrate the Corn Exchange’s 150th anniversary.
This content will run on the 5G Open RAN network and will be trialled with members of the public in 2025. After an innovative and ambitious pitch, we’re pleased to announce Gooii has been selected as the content supplier.
Working closely with the venue, Gooii will create a bespoke venue-specific Augmented Reality experience for the Corn Exchange and its fascinating history. It will include interactive elements and tell fascinating stories relating to its 150th year celebrations.
The AR experience, which is data intensive and has low latency requirements, will test the capabilities of the new 5G Open RAN network. It will also demonstrate how 5G Open RAN technology can support innovative technologies to generate new opportunities for a local economy.
We’ll be using the technology and skills we developed to create the world’s first holographic AR ghost walk at Rufford Abbey and the ‘Robin Hood: Arrow Through Time’ holographic movie at Sherwood Forest.
Our team of talented developers is working hard to create AR and MR content with added VR elements. As part of the R&D stage, we’ve started by creating content in the development platform Unity. We’re also using in-house software developed specifically for this project. Using Unity’s scene editor, we’ll design and place virtual objects in the real world, such as innovative interactive exhibits that bring to life the history of the Corn Exchange.
We’ll then connect a variety of devices to Unity to test out the content using the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro headsets, as well as iOS and Android devices.
When the content has been developed, we’ll organise trial sessions with members of the public. We’ll then ask Corn Exchange visitors to wear the headsets and interact with the AR content.
Based on participants’ feedback and performance testing, we’ll continuously test and refine it. We’ll optimise the AR experience for smooth performance and user interaction on all the devices. Through this, we’ll gain valuable insight into how these applications can be used. It will also allowing us to analyse the data.
Our AR experience will also integrate with the project partners’ hardware and the 5G network. We’ll be working alongside the following partners:
We’re proud to be part of a project that strives to diversify the supply chain of the UK’s Open RAN network and are excited to see how the scheme develops. We love creating AR content for the tourism and entertainment industry and we can’t wait to test it out with members of the public.
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