13 September 2013

Eye Shakespeare App allows you to visit the Poet's hometown from a new perspective

Eye Shakespeare App logo

A screenshot of the App (via iTunes)

Stratford’s Serious Games International have developed an impressive App that changes the way tourists interact with the city and its history.

It's not the first time we write about the use of mobile Applications in relations with Cultural Heritage and Culture. Our Showcase in Tuscany have developed its own one, and many other examples were covered earlier on this website.

Eye Shakespeare is anyway one of the last, excellent examples on how to apply the latest mobile technologies to improove tourists' and visitors' experience.

Thanks to the a sapient mix of augmented-reality, QR-code and geopositiong systems, the App helps to recreate buildings, places and the atmosphere of the Shakespeare's Stratford, allowing thus visitors to explore the town from a deeply different perspective.

According to Tim Luft, managing director of Serious Games International (SGI), “The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has embraced our cutting edge technology to create a real wow for visitors which will certainly add value to Stratford-upon-Avon’s tourism offering"

In fact, SGI partnered with Hewlett Packard and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to realize this state-of-the-art App which allows tourist to fully exploit the technology packed in their mobile devices to gain a truly innovative experience while walking in the Stratford-upon-Avon's streets.

Eye Shakespeare also incorporates hundreds of digitised items from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s archives, which are normally difficult to be accessed by tourists and visitors.

The App, downloadable for free from the Apple's App Store, allows tourist to explore both spacially and historically the Shakespeare's home town. 
According to Dr Diana Owen, director of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust,
“Augmented reality offers exciting opportunities for heritage attractions to give visitors a unique, personalised and truly memorable experience [...] Eye Shakespeare puts us in the vanguard of tourism, and most importantly gives us another tool to improve access to our wonderful Shakespearian heritage to all.”

Stefano Sbarbati