Projects

Sumergiéndonos en el Mar de Chile

Sumergiéndonos en el Mar de Chile is a mixed-reality app that uses storytelling, games and virtual-reality technology to teach users about sustainable fishing.

Design

Chile & Aotearoa New Zealand

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Explora Chile Es Mar app

Sumergiéndonos en el Mar de Chile (submerging ourselves in the Chilean sea) is a mixed-reality app that uses storytelling, games, 360-degree virtual reality (360VR) and augmented reality (AR) to teach users about sustainable fishing. Aimed at students and communities who live in coastal Chile, the app is designed to help users understand marine ecology and encourage them to take action to protect Chile’s marine environment. Users can access the app through a mobile device or desktop computer.

The project began when Dr Claudio Aguayo (Auckland University of Technology App Lab), visited the Universidad Católica de Chile Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas (Catholic University of Chile Marine Research Station) in 2017. They discussed how they could apply design principles from a successful New Zealand research project on marine-ecology education to new educational technology learning resources for Chile.

Over the next five years, App Lab worked with educators and scientists from Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas and Chile’s Centro de Conservatión Marina on Programa Chile Es Mar, which involved transferring the New Zealand research findings to the Chilean context. The team created an app that uses 360VR and AR. 360VR immerses users in a completely digital environment, allowing them to explore and interact with a simulated world. AR overlays digital content onto the real world, enhancing it with additional information or interactive elements.

The app was finalised and launched in June 2021, and is available to download. Schools and communities continue to use Programa Chile Es Mar educational materials, while visitors to Centro de Conservación Marina have an enhanced digital experience in the marine context.

Sumergiéndonos en el Mar de Chile was funded by the Government of Chile through an Explora grant for science and technology.

App Lab is currently working with other Chilean organisations to explore the possibility of developing a similar project in the north of Chile. This would involve applying the same design principles to a different context.

Published 02 November 2023