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Dennō Coil Gets Japan's 1st GPS Augmented Reality Campaign
posted on by Egan Loo
Japan's first GPS-based augmented-reality (AR) promotional campaign will launch in Tokyo on Saturday for the Den-noh Coil (Dennō Coil) anime series. AR is a virtual reality concept that was first explored in science fiction but has now become possible through everyday modern technology. AR merges the real world with virtual computer graphics or information in real-time. In Mitsuo Iso's 2007 Den-noh Coil anime, a group of children in the near future use net-connected AR eyeglasses as they travel though a city to uncover the mysteries behind the new technological advances there.
In the real world, the Den-noh Coil promotional campaign runs on pin@clip, a new Apple iPhone/ipod Touch application that uses the phone's camera, GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation system, motion sensors, and compass. As the user walks around and pans the phone's camera across the surroundings, the application detects any places of interest within the line of sight. The application then displays the live camera video feed and superimposes informational tags about those places in comic-style balloons. The Parco Part 1 department store in Tokyo's bustling shopping district of Shibuya is offering 15 different t-shirts with Den-noh Coil art, and the pin@clip application will display tags in Shibuya that are tied to the anime and the t-shirts.
After the Den-noh Coil campaign ends on January 24, pin@clip will run a February 1-March 10 campaign for the Doraemon anime's 30th anniversary film, Doraemon: Nobita no Ningyo Daikaisen (Doraemon: Nobita's Great Merman Sea Battle). During the Doraemon campaign, the application will display the streets of Shibuya underwater. Hidden in this underwater version of Shibuya are virtual pins. A user can walk around Shibuya to find those pins to unlock previews for the film.
Tokyu Railway, NEC, Japan's National Institute of Infomatics, and Tokyu Agency are running the AR promotional campaigns.
Image © Mitsuo Iso/Tokuma Shoten, Den-noh Coil Production Committee
Update: GPS added to title. Thanks, The Mask.
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