Idea Proposal

The SS Eastland was a passenger vessel that was stationed in the city of Chicago. It conducted tours along the Chicago River, and on July 24th of 1915, the Eastland tipped over and 844 lives were lost. It is a moment in history that is often forgotten, and with the use of AR, we can bring the event back to life and educate people about this tragic moment in Chicago's history. We chose to do an AR application because we wanted the users to experience a bird's-eye view of the event and use high-quality visuals that depict the scenes of the event. With these visuals we would add interactive simulations, including text blocks that describe the boat and what statistics of each aspect of the disaster. As you walk along the river at different points you would see the timings of the different events. In the application we will have a top down view of the city of Chicago with pin-pointed places of interest that users are encouraged to go and see what AR experience they will receive there.

Timeline

For this project we will need approximately 6 months to deliver a functional augmented reality application. This timeline would allot 5 months to build the application with well-thought-out image rendering and refined tracking software. 1 month would be devoted to testing or potential security threats to not just the users information but also there physical safety as well. Additionally, 2 months of work would be given to artists to construct the 3D models for the application.

Cost

Cost can be broken down into 3 main aspects. Firstly is software developers which expect to pay ~$48,000 for 6 months of development and testing. This cost estimate is based on median hourly rate for developers in the US. Next is 3D Artists in which we expect to spend ~$14,080 based on average hourly wage for 3D artists.

This application would also require constant maintenance, which we estimate to be ~$4,000 per month ongoing (20 hours a week)

User Limit

This application would be downloadable on any smartphone running recent versions of Android or iOS. Each person can download this app on their smartphone and interact with the application on their own device.

Hardware/Software requirements

• Smartphone with working camera
• Must be at location that the event occurred
• Mobile operating system supporting Augmented reality toolkit (Android/ IOS)