Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong Tourism Board have created an app, in conjunction with McCann Erickson and XS2Theworld, that is touted as “a world class app for a world class city”.
Whether you want to hang out in a funky bar, go for some retail therapy or book a room, the “DiscoverHongKong.AR” (Discover Hong Kong with Augmented Reality) app does all of these in one place, says XS2Theworld, a Dutch mobile marketing and mobile application building specialist.
The app has two functions – to showcase the beauty and variety of Hong Kong and to make sure visitors can navigate their way through the city easily, finding the best sights, spots, museums, bars and restaurants.
I decide to download the app on to my iPhone and test it to see if all the above holds true.
The navigation is very smooth. The app opens with a beautiful photo of Hong Kong’s mesmerising skyline, then moves immediately to a slide show of what Hong Kong has to offer – from its National Geopark to the Peak, Disneyland, Dragon Boat Festival and mouth-watering food to highlight the city as Asia’s culinary capital.
The “Explore” button takes me to a screen that offers numerous options – from the city’s attractions to over 7,000 shops/restaurants, food districts and the great outdoors, to name just a few.
The “Must See” section is most interesting, rendering a list of attractions that includes 1881 Heritage, Flower Markets and Giant Buddha and Poh Lin Monastery.
I explore the Giant Buddha and am presented with a high res photo of the giant Buddha complete with a detailed description. There are two buttons on the page, one allows me to locate the statue on the map and the other to view it in augmented reality (AR). The latter feature only works when you on site.
I also like the selections in “Malls & Street Markets” and “Food Districts” – visually pleasing.
What is pleasant is throughout my “playing” with the app there are no glitches, no stalling or unexpectedly quitting. This is because the developers were able to create filters that help visitors flick through irrelevant data easily, such as filtering by distance or what’s around them, and searching restaurants by cuisine.
There are two other features I like to highlight. One is “Update” on the home page, which allows me refresh all the information each time I use the app.
The other is “Useful Info”, which provides me with all the essential information on Hong Kong such as where I can find free Internet access to hotel booking and locations of visitors centres.
I have many destinations apps on my phone, but DiscoverHK.AR is the best thus far. It is great for planning a trip to Hong Kong before leaving home, especially for first time visitors. It is even better that “Hong Kong 720º”, a similar mobile app developed by the Hong Kong Tourism Board in 2009. .
Of course, with augmented reality the experience of testing this app would have been more fun. But guess I have to go to Hong to test this feature.
As Sander Munsterman, XS2Theworld’s CEO says, “With augmented reality you get a beautiful, high resolution image of the area or hotspot you want to reach, to wet your appetite and help you decide whether you really want to make a visit. You can also walk through the city using augmented reality mode, so everything you encounter is revealed to you with a narrative, almost as if you have a guide right there with you.”
There is also no expensive data roaming charges as all the content is held within the device.
DiscoverHongKong.AR is a free app, currently available for the iPhone on the Apple App Store. It comes in English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese
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