Owlized is the first company to bring a virtual reality kiosk to a U.S.
National Park. Visitors to the USS Arizona War Memorial at Pearl Harbor are
now able to experience first-person views of the bombing from the edge of
Battleship Row, as if they were standing there on that day in 1941. The
project, produced in partnership with HDR for Pacific Historic Parks and
National Park Service, introduced a host of novel creative and technical
challenges which apply to all location-based outdoor VR deployments. What
constitutes a "user session" when one VR kiosk sees hundreds of users per
day? How does the content sync with the surrounding environment to produce
truly "in situ" views of the historic condition? As an interpretive tool,
how can historic information be included in a way that's both interactive
and intuitive for a non-technical general audience? How can this platform
scale to every historic site and tourist attraction in the world? This
session will address how we tackled these questions and more, and explore
what's next for location-based VR.