XR Project Release: Tkaronto Tour | The Teaching & Learning Centre

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by Michael Lew, XR Software Programmer in the Teaching & Learning Centre

The Teaching & Learning Centre is excited to announce the upcoming release of a newly developed webAR application: Tkaronto Tour!

Tkaronto Tour takes our students on an augmented reality walking tour of urban Indigenous sites across the Anishinaabe territories of Tkaronto (Toronto). As part of this walking tour, students can visit four key sites, either physically or virtually. Each site contains a virtual 360° environment with a number of audio, visual, and text elements which help engage students with these culturally significant landmarks, as well as the Indigenous people and communities connected to them.

Seneca professor Camille Glass noticed that students in her CAN410 course were not aware of contemporary Indigenous realities and wanted to create an opportunity for students to meaningfully connect with key sites and organizations in the downtown core.

This project was developed as part of Seneca’s Extended Reality (XR) in Teaching and Learning initiative, which aims to integrate XR into course and/or program learning activities. The Teaching & Learning XR development team collaborated with Camille, Indigenous artist Patrick Hunter, and First Peoples@Seneca to design the app’s concept and plan each of the sites. The sites were captured live using a 360° camera, and five interviews with key Indigenous community members were recorded. These interviews became their own teaching assets for Camille’s class in addition to being featured as segments within the app.

The app itself was built using Niantic’s 8th Wall platform for webXR content. Niantic is known for their Lightship Visual Positioning System (VPS) toolkit, which lets students who use the app see an interactive 3D map showing points of interest around their location.

8th Wall offers two development methods: a cloud editor tailored for experienced web developers, and Niantic Studio, their new XR game engine designed for intuitive real-time development. Both methods are entirely browser-based, so no software downloads are required.

If you’re interested in bringing XR into your curriculum, please contact the Teaching & Learning Centre.

Try out Tkaronto Tour with this link or scan the QR code below:

_{Source of images: Seneca Polytechnic}

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