Augmented reality technology means visitors to the tank museum can view the German Stürmtiger tank.
The Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset, is believed to be the first attraction in the world to utilise the latest augmented reality technology.
Software experts from Wargaming, producers of the hit free-to-play video game ‘World of Tanks’, have created the interactive experience.
The cutting edge technology allows visitors to explore in detail a rare German Stürmtiger tank.
Using a specially-adapted and supplied smart phone, visitors can view every detail of the ‘bunker buster’.
It is part of the museum’s Tiger Collection exhibition at which five of the World War Two German tanks have come together for the first ever time.
With the Stürmtiger experience there are now six of the Tigers on display in the exhibition sponsored by World of Tanks.
Visitors use the adapted phone and hold it up to what is an empty space, but the technology reveals the tank.
Augmented reality technology means visitors to the tank museum can view the German Stürmtiger tank.
Users can move around it, look inside and explore every detail of this most mysterious member of the Tiger tank family.
Just 19 of these tanks were built and they fired massive 380mm rocket-propelled rounds.
They were designed for use in urban areas and had incredibly thick armour; however, the end of the war came before they could be made in any numbers.
Museum Director Richard Smith said: “Our exhibition of the Tiger tank family had one important member missing.
“With one Tiger missing from the line-up, we turned to our sponsors at World of Tanks to provide the rare Stürmtiger digitally for our visitors to see alongside the five other Tigers in the collection – and using cutting edge interpretive technology, that’s exactly what they have done.
The Tiger Tank exhibition at The Tank Museum, Bovington, is proving a huge hit with visitors
“This is an exciting project – not only have we been able to call on the latest technology, but we think this is the future of museum interpretation.
“The way it allows the visitor to interact with, and better understand, collections is game changing.
“I’m not aware of any other museum in the world to have taken this approach and we’re looking forward to seeing how our visitors react to it.”
The augmented reality is available to visitors from Friday 23rd June – the day before the Tankfest, which is a sell-out with 40,000 tickets sold for the two days.
The Tiger exhibition includes the museum’s own Tiger 1, its two King Tigers, and its Jagdtiger, along with the Elefant, which is back in Europe for the first time since the end of the war after being imported from the US.
Augmented reality technology means visitors to the tank museum can view the German Stürmtiger tank.
Museum Director Richard Smith said: “This Augmented Reality experience, developed by our partners at Wargaming, is one of the first of its kind in a museum setting. The installation allows visitors to interact with the tank in ways that are just not possible with real tanks, for reasons of access and safety. We think it represents the future of museum interpretation and are excited to see how museum goers interact with the new installation.”
The augmented reality installation is available to visitors from Friday 23rd June as part of Tankfest – which is also sponsored by Wargaming.
Here is some further technical detail about the augmented reality experience.
Using Google’s Tango platform and Microsoft’s Hololens, Wargaming, in partnership with Gravity Jack, developed the augmented reality experience which allows museum goers to see a life-size model of the tank appear beside the Tiger 131, using a Tango-enabled phone tethered to the installation.
Viewers can walk around the virtual tank, step inside of it to see the crew compartment, and even see it move and fire its bunker-busting 380 mm rocket. The installation is a first-of-its kind interactive experience in the museum sector using cutting edge technology.
The Tiger exhibition includes the museum’s own Tiger 1, its two King Tigers, and its Jagdtiger, along with the Elefant, which is back in Europe for the first time since the end of the war after being imported from the US.
For more information contact Ed Baker at Deep South Media on 01202 534487
Nik Wyness | Head of Marketing | The Tank Museum | pr@tankmuseum.org | 01929 405 096 x234 | +44 7801099390
Roz Skellorn | Marketing@tankmuseum.org
NOTES TO EDITORS:
ABOUT THE TANK MUSEUM
The Tank Museum at Bovington in Dorset holds the national collection of tanks and brings the story of tanks and tank crews to life.
With over 300 tanks from 26 nations, The Tank Museum holds the finest and most historically significant collection of fighting armour in the world. These range from the world’s first ever tank, Little Willie, through to the British Army’s current Main Battle Tank, Challenger 2.
Eight powerful exhibitions tell the story of armoured warfare spanning over 100 years of history. As you explore the Museum’s seven large halls, you come face with face to face with tanks and hear incredible true stories from the last century.
The Tank Museum is an independent Museum and registered Charity.
ABOUT WARGAMING
Wargaming is an award-winning online game developer and publisher, and one of the leaders in the free-to-play MMO market. Founded as a privately held company in 1998, Wargaming has shipped over 15 titles. Currently, Wargaming is focused on its team-based MMO war series dedicated to mid-20th century warfare that includes the armored World of Tanks, the airborne World of Warplanes, and the naval World of Warships. The three intertwined titles form a common gaming universe integrated within the portal www.wargaming.net.
As part of its multiplatform line-up, the company has introduced World of Tanks on Xbox and World of Tanks Blitz on mobile platforms, Windows 10 PCs and Mac OS X. Launched in 2014 and 2015, World of Tanks on Xbox introduced epic tank-on-tank battles to console gamers and offers the first cross-platform gaming experience between Xbox 360 and Xbox One. In 2016, Wargaming released World of Tanks for PlayStation®4, continuing its console campaign.
Official website: www.wargaming.com
