The City of Clearwater, Florida, has partnered with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (TBRPC) to let residents and visitors see future downtown developments in augmented reality, right where they are being built. The experience is available now at three downtown construction sites: The Ballad Hotel, 150 S. Osceola Ave. and the Osceola Avenue Parking Garage. The city's stated aim is to make it easier for the community to explore these projects, understand how downtown is changing and visualize the investments shaping its future.
How it works
Posters on the construction fencing carry a QR code. Visitors scan it with their smartphone camera and view a full-scale 3D model of the future building through the phone's camera, placed within the surrounding real-world environment. The city describes the experience as free, with no app to download, and it runs through the inCitu platform.
Each of the three projects has its own AR experience:
- The Ballad Hotel: a 10-story, 158-room hotel with a pool deck.
- 150 S. Osceola Ave.: a 28-story mixed-use residential tower.
- Osceola Avenue Parking Garage: a 397-space garage.
Remote access
People who cannot get downtown can explore the projects remotely through the inCitu interactive platform. TBRPC's page also describes saving the poster images and scanning their QR codes to place a scaled model on a table or desk, again without an app download.
Partners
TBRPC produced the AR experiences in partnership with Clearwater Economic Development.
