For the course ‘Projects 2’ at the Technical University KaHo St. Lieven, field of study ICT-Electronics three students want to create an Android application for the PORTICO project. The minimum goal of the project is to create an application for an Android Smartphone where people are capable to walk around in Gent with a virtual city guide. This city guide will display text and pictures around the theme that is set up by PORTICO about the historical background of buildings and squares.

When you enter a cluster of coins on the trade route, the application will recognize that you are in the proximity of a cluster by determining your position via GPS. The application will then ask you to scan the QR-code in the cluster which gives access to the information of the coins. All the coins in the cluster will be displayed in a list trough which you can be browsed easily. Details of a coin will be displayed on separate pages which can be viewed (virtually) guided or free.

When you have browsed all the coins or you have ended the guided tour in the cluster the application shows you the route to the next cluster.

In a later phase the augmented reality feature can be plugged in. It will then be possible to point the camera of the Smartphone to a building which is part of the PORTICO trade route. The information of the building will be shown in real time on the building within the screen of the Smartphone.

Students: Yannick Marchand, Kenneth Van Eetvelde, Matthias Vervaet

When the students began to develop the concept of their Coin Quest, they set off from a few basic ideas. First of all they wanted to develop a game that would stay workable on the long run. Secondly they wished to keep as many options open as possible, so that they would be able to change separate parts of the game without influencing the main picture. Another important factor was the use of as much cultural heritage as possible. By doing so, they wanted to bring the participant in contact with everything Gent has to offer. They also wanted to create a game that would be functional for larger and smaller groups as well as individuals. And last but not least they intended to make it a real team game and not a competition. It was their aim to make sure that all the participants would have a happy feeling after completing the quest. Their concept is still a work in progress and will in all probability still change.

With all these basic ideas in mind, they came up with the following concept. Their game consists of a vast component and a functional component. The vast component is a story line,  the functional component is a set of tasks. This way, the story can remain the same while they can change the tasks according to the players. The tasks class groups get, will be different from those of families or individuals.

For starters, let’s give an example of the game when played by a group of pupils. The game starts in the city. Every group gets an iPhone and the quest begins. In group they perform different kinds of tasks. By fulfilling the task they collect different pieces of a puzzle, but not enough to complete the whole quest. After completing all the tasks in the city they end up at the boats. In the boat all groups can connect their iPhones to each other and together they can nearly finish off the whole puzzle. Only one piece is missing. This piece can be found at the museum. After completing the last task with the class they will get the final piece of the puzzle and the game is completed. When the game is finished they all get a little coin as a reminder of the Coin Quest and Gent. When played in small groups, families or as an individual, the puzzle will be smaller and the tasks will be adjusted to the audience.

Here you can watch a movie made by one of the students (Arnaud) to introduce their city and its monuments to the student teams of the other cities.