Self-Guided Virtual Tour Using Augmented Reality

The Cape Flats Nature Reserve, situated in the Western Cape, South Africa provides refuge to over 200 plant species, many endemic to the Western Cape. As part of the reserve's recreational activities, scheduled guided tours are offered to the public. The tours focus on the ecological importance and educational aspect of the reserve. A complete tour usually takes more than an hour. Due to the lack of trained tour guides and its strenuous nature, tours are only offered once daily. This has been identified as a challenge by the management of the nature reserve. In this paper a solution to the challenge using an augmented reality mobile application is proposed. The application allows visitors to experience the nature reserve in their own time without a guide. Augmented reality markers are placed at points of interest around the reserve. These in conjunction with the mobile application provide information about plants thereby mimicking actual tour guides. Outlines for the design and development of this self-guided tour application and the results of user acceptance and unit tests are provided in this paper.