avatarArticles by Deb Boyer

Mar 09, 2011

Upcoming Conference Sessions on Augmented Reality

By Deb Boyer

One of my favorite aspects of working on PhillyHistory.org and the forthcoming augmented reality application is talking to other people about the projects. As a public history enthusiast, I love the chance to get feedback on the website and learn how users interact with the historic photos. Several of the features the Department of Records implemented on PhillyHistory.org have come at the request of visitors to the website, and we’re always eager to hear more suggestions.

Lucky for me, I’ll be attending several conferences in the next couple months, providing a chance to hear what you think about the new Augmented Reality by PhillyHistory.org application, Philadelphia history, digital history projects, and GIS and the humanities in general. Let me know if you’ll be at any of these events!


SXSW Interactive, Austin, TX – “Innovating & Developing with Libraries, Archives & Museums” – March 15 at 9:30am
Panel presentation with Jon Voss (LookBackMaps), Danielle Plumer (Texas State Library and Archives Commission), Michael Edson (Smithsonian Institution). I’ll be speaking on how the PhillyHistory.org team has addressed scaling, display, linking, and collaboration issues for the PhillyHistory.org database, mobile application, and augmented reality project and how public access and linked data initiatives have influenced the development of the website.


Visual Resources Association and the Art Libraries Society of North America (VRA + ARLIS/NA), Minneapolis, MN – “From Filing Cabinet to iPhone: How Collaboration and Technology can Introduce Photo Collections to New Audiences” – March 26 at 8:30am
A case study session on several image related projects. I’ll be speaking on how collaborative efforts, combined with digital initiatives, can bring new life to old photos.


Museums and the Web, Philadelphia, PA – “Implementing Mobile Augmented Reality Applications for Cultural Institutions” – April 9 at 11am
A mobile parade session highlighting mobile projects developed by cultural institutions in 2010. I’ll be speaking on the process of creating the PhillyHistory.org augmented reality application and how our research findings could be applied to other institutions.

As part of the Museums and the Web conference, Azavea will also be hosting a historic walking tour of Philadelphia followed by a cocktail reception at our offices.

Museums and the Web – “Walking Tour of Historic Philadelphia” – April 5 at 4pm
The walking tour will showcase historic locations in downtown Philadelphia, specifically in the Center City, Chinatown, and Callowhill neighborhoods, and give conference attendees an opportunity to use the PhillyHistory mobile and augmented reality applications. A cocktail reception at Azavea’s offices after the tour gives us a chance to hear everyone’s feedback about the app and for guests to get acquainted with some other amazing projects on which we have worked in the humanities.

“Augmented Reality Check: Seeing the Future Now,” Philadelphia, PA – April 26 at 6pm
My colleague Josh Marcus and I will be part of a panel of artists and software developers (and me who is neither!) discussing the intersection of art, technology, and science and the use of augmented reality. This event is organized by Breadboard, in conjunction with the Philadelphia Science Festival, Philly Tech Week, and Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.

If you’re attending any of these conferences or will be visiting Philadelphia and want to talk GIS and digital humanities, let us know!

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Mar 07, 2011

Augmented Reality Update: Selecting Images

By Deb Boyer

How do you choose 500 photos out of 93,000? And then how do you whittle down those 500 images to a mere 20? That was the conundrum the PhillyHistory.org team faced as they began the process of selecting images for the PhillyHistory.org augmented reality application. While the application will include the majority of the geocoded images found in PhillyHistory.org, we’ve also selected 500 images for a bit of special attention. Those 500 will be “pinned” or more accurately located in 3-D space so that the historic image appears to align with the current landscape. Out of those 500, we also selected twenty images for which we provided extended, researched descriptions.

To read more about the photo selection process, check out the following entries on the PhillyHistory.org blog.

Something New in Your Neighborhood: Augmented Reality

Selecting Images for Augmented Reality

And in case you’re curious what all of this might look like….

Memorial Hall in 1876 and 2010

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Feb 08, 2011

Augmented Reality in Cultural Institutions

By Deb Boyer

If you visit Azavea these days, there’s a good possibility you might notice people wandering around near the windows holding up their smartphones or bundling up to head outside and test the new mobile augmented reality (AR) application for PhillyHistory.org. Erik and Josh, the developers working on the prototype application, are hard at work researching and experimenting with the best ways to combine historic photographs and mobile technology to create a great AR experience.

The Philadelphia Department of Records, however, is certainly not the first cultural institution to investigate the use of augmented reality as an educational and access tool. Within the last three years, several interesting projects around the world have provided new and innovative ways for the public to view the collections of various museums and cultural organizations. While you’re waiting for the PhillyHistory.org AR app, you may want to check out some of these great augmented reality applications. Some of the projects require you to be in a specific location, but others can be accessed anywhere.

Augmented Reality for Interpretive and Experiential Learning (ARIEL), Philadelphia – A group of organizations working on “fixed-station exhibit devices with augmented and virtual reality interfaces.”

Augsburg Display Cabinet, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles - Using a printed marker and a web cam, users can manipulate and more closely view a digital model of the cabinet.

Berlin Wall, Berlin –  A layer in Layar that enables users to view a recreation of the Berlin Wall.

Gene Becker and Adriano Farano, San Francisco - Experimenting with historic photographs and augmented reality in San Francisco.

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney - Enables users to view historic photographs of Sydney, Australia.

Streetmuseum, Museum of London, London – Historic photographs of London available as overlays on the current landscape.

The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh – View information and images of locations in Pittsburgh and New York connected to Warhol’s life and work.

Urban Augmented Reality (UAR), Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam - An architecture focused application that provides images of past buildings, designs that were never built, and artist’s impressions of the future built environment.

With the rapid pace of AR development, I’m sure that I’ve missed a few projects. Leave a comment if you know of other great AR work going on in cultural institutions!

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Jan 17, 2011

Augmented Reality Coming Soon!

By Deb Boyer

North Broad Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard in 1916 and 2010.

What have we been up to lately at Azavea? Let’s just say that it involves fantastic historic images from PhillyHistory.org, mobile technology, and augmented reality. And what might that result in? For now, you’ll have to be content with this mock-up! More information coming soon…

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Nov 11, 2010

Conference Wrap-Up: Museum Computer Network 2010

By Deb Boyer

From October 28-30, I was fortunate to attend the annual Museum Computer Network conference, held this year in Austin, Texas. My only previous experience with Texas involved a long, hot, six hour van ride between Dallas and Lubbock so the chance to get another view of the state by spending a few days in Austin learning about new digital projects and discussing museum technology was much appreciated!

Formed in 1967, the Museum Computer Network serves as an organization where members can discuss, debate, and investigate new technologies and practices in the museum field. The group operates a very active listserv and holds an annual conference. While other of my Azavea colleagues had been to the conference before, this was my first time attending.

Some of the highlights of the conference included:

  • Case Study Showcases: Featuring a quick five minute introduction to a variety of projects, these showcases were a great chance to hear about activities going on around the country. After the initial presentations, each speaker was available to answer further questions or provide more information. Some of my favorites?
    • Information Visualization and Museum Practice: How do we use visualization tools in museum activities from representing visitor information to understanding our collections? This was a great session that continued into an unconference discussion I unfortunately couldn’t attend. It’s a fascinating topic that I’m excited to read more about in the future.
    • Great conversations with museum professionals from around the country.
    • Barbecue and delicious food!

    In addition to hearing about these topics, I also had the chance to speak on GIS for preservation and community engagement as part of a panel on 21st Century Conservation. My session included information on Muralfarm.org (powered by Sajara) and its use by the Mural Arts Program to make more mural information and photographs available to the public.

    Overall a great conference that left me with a long list of projects to check out and websites to read!

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Aug 03, 2010

Mapping Literature, Postscript

By Deb Boyer

Turns out that I’m not the only one in the office who likes the idea of combining place and literature. A conversation with my deskmate, Dana, led me to a few more great literary mapping projects.

A Literary Map of Manhatten: Having grown up in a small town in the Midwest, my New York City was the New York of books and movies. When I finally got to the city and visited the Met for the first time, I was so excited to see the place where Claudia and Jamie lived in From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler!

Get London Reading: London is the other city forever connected with literature in my mind. I haven’t made it there yet, but until I do, this site provides a great overview of the writings associated with the city!

The combining of literature and geography doesn’t require mapping software or a digital interface. For decades, beautiful literary maps have provided a visual representation of the connection between writing and place. In 1993, the Library of Congress hosted “Language of the Land: Journeys into Literary America,” an exhibition of literary maps, that later traveled throughout the United States. An online exhibition provides access to some of the maps and photographs that were part of the exhibit. I’d love to see another exhibit like this!

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Jul 29, 2010

Mapping Literature

By Deb Boyer

In May 2010, I was fortunate to attend THATCamp 2010, the Humanities and Technology Camp hosted by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Amidst all the discussion of digital humanities, text mining, linked data, and open source software were several great sessions on geolocation, mapping historic sites, and the use of place and space in humanities scholarship.

Many of these conversations focused on the use of geography in the study of history. From historic photographs to maps to artifacts used at a particular place, both non-profit organizations and the academy have embraced geography as a way to connect the past to the present. Azavea has worked on several projects that use GIS to help understand and visualize the past including PhillyHistory.org and AfricaMap.

In one session, however, we were encouraged to look beyond spatial analysis and history. What about applying GIS technology to other fields in the humanities such as literature? Place has long been recognized as a great influence upon many writers and their work. Flannery O’Conner, William Faulkner, and Zora Neale Hurston are inextricably linked with the American South just as Dickens is forever associated with London and Mark Twain with the Mississippi River. Other writers create their own locations as varied as Tolkien’s Middle Earth or Jonathan Swift’s Lilliput. Travel writers, journalists, and non-fiction authors also help tell the stories of a place and describe the culture, people, and events that are intimately connected to a region.

With geography so interwoven with literature, it seems like GIS could be a perfect way to help further analyze and understand both fiction and non-fiction. A little bit of online research led me to some great literary GIS projects.

A W.E.B. DuBois map (c. 1896) of Philadelphia's 7th ward.

A W.E.B. DuBois map (c. 1896) of Philadelphia's 7th ward.

Mapping the DuBois Philadelphia Negro – Led by Dr. Amy Hillier in the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, the Mapping DuBois project uses GIS technology and archival data to depict the demographics of the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia in 1899 when W.E.B. Du Bois surveyed the area as part of his book, The Philadelphia Negro. Azavea assisted with the GIS technology for the project.

Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania – Developed by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, this literary map shows the authors and works associated with counties across Pennsylvania. Clicking on a county provides additional information about the authors as well as links to books, newspapers, and maps related to that area.

The Map of Early Modern London – Using the Agas map (circa 1560), visitors can gain a better understanding of the relationship between the geography and history of London and how those factors influenced Renaissance theater in the city.

Haverford College Department of Classics – Want a better understanding of the geography of Homer’s poems? View locations associated with Homer’s ships using Google Earth.

Google Lit Trips – Developed as part of the Google Certified Teachers program, Google Lit Trips enables teachers and students to view locations associated with certain books by downloading kmz files for use in Google Earth. Works range from Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey to Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann.

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