Peel back the layers & journey through time
We weave together digital & physical
Journey through Time London AR Trail
Zubr Curio has developed eleven augmented reality experiences which showcase historic archival photographs of key landmarks in London Heritage Quarter. Designed to accompany eleven painted sculptures across eleven key locations as part of the “Journey Through Time” Summer Trail, each AR experience ‘peels back’ the history of each location, providing a glimpse of how they once looked.
The London AR trail runs from 15th June, coinciding with King Charles’ Birthday, until 1st September, offering a captivating exploration of London’s rich history and dynamic evolution. Read more about this project on BBC, or explore the heritage trail map here.
The trail commemorates the 200th Birthday of The National Gallery and the establishment of London Heritage Quarter, which unites four south Westminster Business Improvement Districts (BIDs): Victoria, Victoria Westminster, Whitehall and Northbank.
The eleven sculpture locations include the Strand Aldwych, Victoria Embankment Gardens, Whitehall Gardens, Trafalgar Square, St James Park, Victoria Tower Gardens, Supreme Court, Cathedral Piazza, Lower Grosvenor Gardens, QEII Centre and the Guards Museum.
6.5
Kilometres
90+
Minutes walk
11
AR experiences
1500+
Users in a month
Partners
Contracted by We Are Placemaking, Zubr Curio collaborated with archivists from The Thorney Island Society and Westminster Archives to deliver this engaging AR trail for London Heritage Quarter.
Peer through the windows into London's past
The AR trail is an excellent method to blend city walks with exciting digital content, providing an interactive augmented reality experience that tourists and locals can both enjoy. With the aim to educate, entertain, and increase engagement with visitor attractions, the AR trail offers visitors the opportunity to step back into the past and see each historical landmark through a new lens.
By creating ‘windows into the past’ and adding an additional layer of historical interest for visitors to explore, we enable users to overlay historical photographs over the remnants visible today by using the rear camera on their personal devices.
Opting for a web-based augmented reality experience, the trail’s AR offerings are easily accessible, as visitors can use their own devices to scan QR codes attached to each sculpture in order to access the WebAR. This light-touch approach also includes instructions to guide users when exploring the AR, maintaining the self-guided nature of the tour and eradicating the need for trail chaperones or maintenance.
Scavenging sculptures
The painted sculptures capture a variety of quintessential London symbols, including a bus, teacup, top hat, taxi, crown, wellington boots, postbox, telephone box, teapot, pocket watch and a palace guard.
As each AR experience is linked to each sculpture via a QR code attached, the AR experiences are entirely unique to each location, enhancing the sculpture trail with a collectable, scavenger-hunt style incentive.
Before development, the Zubr Curio team visited the Westminster City Archives, as well as local charity Thorney Island Society, in order to source our archival photographs and discuss the key features of each site.
The AR trail is hosted via WebAR, complete with information about the trail and direct links to the Web AR filters. This allows visitors the opportunity to see into the past of each London landmark, experiencing the sites through new eyes whilst using their own personal devices.
The final AR experiences can be accessed via QR codes attached to each sculpture, enhancing the treasure hunt style of this fun, light-touch AR trail.
Each WebAR page includes a short description of the history of each location, offering an accessible and easy to digest snippet of knowledge, so visitors can learn a bit more about the hidden histories of the sites before them.
Capture the past and present
The AR experiences also include exciting features such as ‘peelable layers’, allowing visitors to scroll between archival images and watch the real-world sites transform before their eyes, such as the Houses of Parliament, which ‘peels back’ to reveal the construction of the iconic Big Ben landmark.
The experience also includes the opportunity to take screenshots of each AR experience, so visitors can capture the blend of historical and present day on their screens to share on social media or with friends and family.
Perfect for the self-guided nature of the sculpture trail, visitors can access each AR experience in any order – and return to their favourite sites!
Calibrated with the real world, each AR photograph can be revealed regardless of which sculpture visitors encounter first, encouraging them to explore the heritage quarter on foot.
Once the augmented reality experiences were complete, the Zubr Curio team embarked on a day-trip to London to test each AR experience on location, ensuring that each archival photograph was carefully scaled and aligned with each real-world location, to create an experience that is as immersive as possible – a true window into the past!
Explore London's Heritage Quarter this summer
The London Heritage AR Trail offers a free, engaging experience for summer visitors in London. The trail encourages engagement with the historical sites on offer in London’s Heritage Quarter, promotes cultural appreciation and encourages visitors to get outside and exercise.
By overlaying the historical archival photographs over the modern-day sites and exploring their hidden histories, the trail enhances the educational and entertainment value of the heritage sites, demonstrating the opportunities to bring history to life in an accessible and interactive manner.
