Interactive Places

Client: Interactive Places

Develop mscapes for a historical tour of two British heritage sites.

Interactive Places specialise in creating interactive tours for heritage sites using a mixture of video, audio, and puzzles. The tours are designed to enhance the visitor's experience by providing location specific content which transports them back in time.

Mobile Pie were approached to develop the tours which run on PDAs using GPS, collating the video and audio provided into a virtual landscape, and providing interactive games. So far two Interactive Places have been developed, at Chedworth Roman Villa and Banqueting House in Whitehall.

During the Chedworth Roman Villa Tour the user is guided by Roman Gods Pan and Sulis who explain the history of the site's different areas including the dining area, baths and shrine. The user can pick their character from two typical inhabitants of the time, Cassius and Livia, who also provide and insight into the day to day life at the villa.

The tour at Banqueting House transports the user to January 30th 1649, the day of the execution of Charles I. Banqueting House is the only remaining structure from the historical Palace of Whitehall. The player can explore the surrounding area to discover the extent of the old palace and meet some colourful characters along the way. The only question is, can they find the coins needed to bribe the executioner and sneak in?

Result

The two tours have been a big success in testing and a launch to the public in planned for 2008. Mobile Pie will partner on more projects in the future and explore more ways to deliver content to the user other than a GPS based system.