Augmented reality is a technology that takes virtual information and overlays it on to the real world in different shapes and forms.

Elizabeth Folta, an assistant professor at SUNY-ESF, is interested in taking augmented reality a step further.

The two most common examples of augmented reality are stargazer apps, which allow users to find constellations when pointing their smartphones at the sky, and locator apps, which can analyze the surroundings and find locations such as restaurants, libraries and gas stations.

Folta is the program coordinator for the environmental education and interpretation program and was first introduced to augmented reality when she was working on her Ph.D. Her major professor focused on using traditional video games for educational purposes.

As Folta worked on this project, she began to discover more about mobile gaming — specifically augmented reality gaming — and did part of her dissertation on AR gaming.

“We’re playing a video game in the real world environment,” Folta said. “Instead of moving a player on a screen to get from point A to point B, you are physically moving in order to trigger something to happen in the game.”

Folta’s focus is on using this technology for educational purposes. She is interested in teaching people more about the environment they are in through actual interaction with the environment.

Folta and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry graduate student Jackie McCabe, are currently working on the game, “Interstellar Intruders,” which focuses on Clark Reservation and Green Lakes state parks.

In the game, players will learn about invasive species by being presented with a plant which they have to identify, determine if it is an invasive species or not and discover what could potentially be done about it in the park.

“It’s taking something familiar and entertaining and trying to encourage them to get outdoors and explore it that way,” Folta said. “Using it as a hook is what got me interested and wanting to share this experience with others.”

The game can currently be played on smartphones or tablets. Folta said the future platform for this technology will be wearable technology similar to Google Glass in that it will allow users to access more information as they walk around.

The game is being built around very specific locations, which is similar to the way that majority of augmented reality games are designed. However, there are games that are proximity-based and designed for open areas as opposed to what a player would find at a specific location, Folta said.

Folta and McCabe are programming the games themselves through different online platforms created by universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Wisconsin-Madison, which are free to create and free for the user to play.

“One of the big ways that AR games is coming about is in the entertainment industry,” Folta said. “Google Glass and other companies using the glass-technology are already designing games that you can play with them.”

While the technology is being utilized for gaming, Folta said she hopes to increase the use of the technology as an educational tool in park settings, museums and zoos, which are often understaffed and cannot provide the programs that they would like to for the public.

“We’re hoping we can supplement and have educational games like this to help park visitors understand the resources in their parks a little bit better,” Folta said.

Published on April 26, 2015 at 11:30 pm

Contact Anjali: acalwis@syr.edu