This paper introduces a user-centered Augmented Reality (AR) approach for publishing 2D media archives as interactive content. We discuss the relevant technical considerations for developing an effective application for public outdoor AR experiences that leverage context-specific elements in a challenging, real-world environment. Specifically, we show how a classical marker-less approach can be combined with mobile sensors and geospatial information in order apply our knowledge of the surroundings to the experience itself. Our contributions provide the enabling technology for Chicago 0,0 Riverwalk, a novel app-based AR experience that superimposes historical imagery onto matching views in downtown Chicago, Illinois along an open, pedestrian waterfront located on the bank of the Chicago River. Historical photographs of sites along the river are superimposed onto buildings, bridges, and other architectural features through image-based AR tracking, providing a striking experience of the city’s history as rooted in extant locations along the river.

Index Terms: H.5.1 [Information interfaces and presentation (e.g. HCI)]: Multimedia Information Systems-Artificial, augmented and virtual realities

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Cavallo, M., Rhodes, G. A., Forbes, A. G., Riverwalk: Incorporating Historical Photographs in Public Outdoor Augmented Reality Experiences, 15th IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) 2016, Merida, Mexico, September 19th, 2016.