Since the invention of the bicycle in 1817, cycling has remained a sport that involves a cyclist and his or her bike. Soon, thanks to West Yorkshire’s CityConnect, the activity may be adding Pokémon Go-style augmented reality into the mix.
Funded by over £60 million from the Department of Transport’s Cycle City Ambition Grant, CityConnect aims to increase cycling across the United Kingdom. One of its most ambitious projects is the development of an augmented reality app for cyclists. Using features similar to Pokémon Go, the app is designed to enhance the cycling experience and encourage traditionally less active cycling groups, such as teenagers, to ride more often.
“With the help from the CityConnect cycling engagement team, we will work with groups such as young professionals or older members of the Asian community to find out how an AR cycling app could encourage them to cycle more, especially on the Cycle Superhighway,” Simon Couth, head of the University of Bradford’s Digital Media Working Academy that is collaborating with CityConnect, said in a statement.
The game-style app can be used by cyclists riding on the new traffic-free Cycle Superhighway that links Leeds and Bradford, offering points of interest, safety, and points for sensible cycling while deducting them for reckless and dangerous maneuvers. The route will be used as the basis for the first prototype of the app.
The Digital Media Working Academy in-house production company will develop the prototype through involvement with local schools and other community and cycling groups, engaging with them to test features of the app.
In light of the obvious excitement surrounding a gamified cycling experience, some have raised concerns over the app’s potential for injury with cyclists engaging with screens. David Robison of Capital of Cycling in Bradford, one of the lead developers of the app, understands the initial trepidation, but largely sees these fears as a design challenge. He is working to ensure the app not only avoids dangerous situations, but also actively deters them.
“Using GPS or sensors on the route, it will be able to determine if people slow down appropriately at junctions,” Robison said. For recognizing signage, we can give them hints via the app.”
Couth said in a statement the team was “working with a simple but secure strap that attaches the phone to the handlebars.”
“Safety is an integral aspect of the app with warnings and safe cycle guidance a part of the gameplay,” Couth said. “It’s much like people using a screen sat-nav as they drive.”
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A prototype of the app is set to be showcased at the Cycle City Active City Conference on May 11. Although the initial release of the app will focus on Cycle City routes in the U.K., it is Robison’s hope that AR cycling will be able to improve transportation across the globe.
“Eventually we want it to be a transferrable asset that we can reprogram for different locations and different narratives,” Robison said. “Really it’s all about the use of public space, encouraging people onto bikes, that’s our motivation.”