App

FEATURES in development:

  • Meet the trees on the Ohio State University campus and interact with them using a smartphone or tablet
  • Discover details about individual trees by moving smart device close to them
  • Learn about the species, age, health, and ecosystem benefits of any tree on campus
  • Hear sounds composed specifically for each species, allowing for an auditory identification of species and the ability to spatially “mix” the songs by moving among the trees.
  • Collect information about specific trees – species, stories, environmental data – in your field journal.
  • Zoom in on a leaf to reveal a microscopic view, which is animated to show the oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange through the pores.
  • Fast-forward to 2025 to see the landscape populated with “ghost trees” representing the doubling of the trees currently on campus.
  • Go back in time to see “skeleton trees” where removed trees once stood.
  • Take selfies with the real trees and virtual trees and post them to social media via the app, and/or a hashtag
  • Write a poem or note about your favorite tree and post it to social media.
  • App links to additional information about the benefits of trees, the university sustainability plans for doubling the tree canopy, and information about student groups that focus on sustainability.

USER EXPERIENCE:

Upon opening the app on a smartphone or tablet, a user will be greeted with the animation of futuristic trees sparkling on top of a map of campus. The animation fades out and the app interface reveals the device’s live camera view and the user hears sounds generated by the 10 closest trees to their current location. Moving towards a tree increases the sound of that tree.

3  options appear in the app. <<Future Trees>> and <<This Tree>> and <<Past Trees>>

<<Future Trees>> activates the augmented reality “ghost trees” that fade into the scene as the users camera is pointed at the landscape. As the user moves through the landscape, more trees emerge as overlays in the environment, approximately doubling the number of trees in the location. An additional button shaped like a camera emerges, which activates “selfie mode”, where a photo is taken of the user that includes the overlay of future trees in the environment.

<<Past Trees>> activates the augmented reality “skeleton trees” that emerge in the landscape in the places where trees have died or have been removed. This information remains in the GIS database, even after the trees do not.

<<This Tree>> activates the information about the actual trees nearest to the user. After the app locates the user using GPS, it shows a glowing book overlaid onto trees indicating buttons to press. Touching a glowing book on the screen zooms into the info about the species, historical stories, and ecosystem services of that tree. Touching the microscope image next to the leaf zooms into a microscopic view of the of a leaf, which is animated to show the oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange and the opening and closing of the stomata pores. A camera icon allows the user to take a selfie with the tree in front of them (with the field guide page also in the scene).

After viewing the information about the specific tree in front of them, the user can save it to their “tree library”. This is a collection of field guide pages that are species-specific and also individually-specific with the size and tree number information (based on the data held the GIS tree library).

Users can click on a menu called <<More Info>> to access info on the benefits of trees, the university sustainability plans for doubling the tree canopy, and information about student groups that focus on sustainability.