For many Singaporeans like myself, August 9th marks a special day for all of us, which is our nation’s independence day. This year, in order to celebrate Singapore’s 47th Birthday, Massive Infinity, a Singapore startup, has created a mobile app called NDPOnTheGo (pictured below).
The app details the updates leading up to the big day, which includes various Singaporean-related events, social media, news, e-tickets to Singapore’s National Day Parade (NDP) 2012, and has also integrated an augmented reality (AR) treasure hunt styled game called “LovingSG Trail”. It is part of NDP’s efforts to increase public engagement.
In essence, the trails are specifically designed in-line with NDP 2012’s theme of Loving Singapore. It encourages users to venture and re-explore Singapore, reminding themselves of why they love our magnificent garden city. There are four different themes to the trails: heritage, urban, green, and food, to choose from. These themes will be released in the weeks leading up to National Day.
The “LovingSG Trail” taps on the use of augmented reality along with location aware services. For each theme, there will be ten locations, of which users must complete six, in order to win a prize within the given time frame. Kris Heslop, general manager at Massive Infinity, explains how the game works:
The user selects a location in the trail and is presented with a question and a location on the map. The user must then navigate to this location and find the place of interest. Once the user has found the place of interest, the location service on the app will detect that the user has reached the location and an AR object will appear near the place of interest. The user must take a picture with the AR object and share it on their Facebook to complete it, after which that location will disappear from the grid and be no longer selectable.
The app also integrates a segment for a donation drive for the “Building a Loving SG” program which my fellow Singaporean and colleague, Willis, wrote about a month back.
For Singaporeans or even expats living in Singapore who are keen to give it a try, you might wish to download the app (both of iOS and Android) via the link here. According to Kris, the trails are ending pretty soon, so download quickly and soak up the NDP atmosphere!
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