In a galaxy not so far from Central Park, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Eiffel Tower, Star Wars comes to life through augmented reality.
Disney has been making major moves in Augmented Reality in 2017. In the past couple of weeks alone, the company announced an AR integration in Find the Force, put Jedi powers in our hands with a new AR lightsaber; and gave us a glimpse of how future museum visits will become more interactive with AR Museum.
On Friday, Disney again deployed AR to ignite Star Wars hype by updating the Find the Force app to include an experience that positions First Order Star Destroyers over some of the biggest International landmarks around the globe—including France, Sweden, Japan and the United States.
In order to see Star Destroyers above your head and hear the trademark sounds of TIE Fighters buzzing through the air, Star Wars fans and AR enthusiasts had to make the journey to visit one of the landmarks below and scan the skies using their smartphone:
- Central Park | USA | 40.781,-73.966
- CN Tower | Canada | 40.781,-73.966
- Coca-Cola London Eye | UK | 51.501,-0.124
- Copacabana Beach | Brazil | -22.973,-43.185
- Eiffel Tower | France | 48.862,2.288
- Gamla Stan | Sweden | 59.325,18.071
- Golden Gate Bridge | USA | 37.807,-122.469
- Gran Via | Spain | 40.420,-3.706
- Grand Canyon | USA | 36.061,-112.109
- Ha’Penney Bridge | Ireland | 53.346,-6.263
- Hollywood Sign | USA | 34.127,-118.326
- Lumpini Park | Thailand | 13.729,100.542
- Memorial de America Latina | Brazil | -23.527,-46.663
- Merlion Park | Singapore | 1.286,103.854
- Niagara Falls | Canada | 43.083,-79.078
- Piazza del Duomo | Italy | 43.773,11.255
- Schloss Charlottenburg | Germany | 52.520, 13.295
- Sydney Harbour Bridge | Australia | -33.861,151.221
- Victoria Harbour | Hong Kong | 22.294,114.169
- Yoyogi Park | Japan | 35.672,139.694
“I really liked what Find the Force added to Force Friday II Weekend,” said Amy Ratcliffe, Associate Editor at Nerdist and a contributor for the official Star Wars twitter account. “It made for fun photo ops and a different way to experience Star Wars. I hope Disney/Lucasfilm does more with AR in the future—it’s more accessible than VR, and I’m all for anything that’s more inclusive of the fandom.”
Photo by Amy Ratcliffe
Seeing Star Destroyers hovering above the Hollywood Bowl or any international landmarks is a dream come true for any Star Wars fan.
“Augmented reality is such an amazing new technology that was born from dreamers like Star Wars fans,” said Jeff Ayers, one of the hosts of Death Wish Coffee’s Fueled By Death Cast and a self-proclaimed Star Wars nerd, “My 10-year old self still can’t believe I can ‘see’ a Star Destroyer in the sky right above me on the device in my pocket.”
Ratcliffe and Ayers agree that this is clearly not the last time we will see AR and Star Wars together.
“It could be a fun way for them to tease out new information,” said Ratcliffe.
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi opens on December 15, 2017…and for this Star Wars nerd, December can’t get here soon enough. In the meantime, I’ll just keep scanning the skies for Star Destroyers.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Star Wars & Amy Ratcliffe