Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle working with Oculus and Footmarks to enhance zoo visit experience through immersive content, which can help bring humans closer to animals

Briefing

Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle working with Oculus and Footmarks to enhance zoo visit experience through immersive content, which can help bring humans closer to animals

July 25, 2018

Briefing

  • Immersive Experience – Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo exploring use of virtual reality technology and beacons to provide visitors with better experience and more in-depth look at zoo animals’ daily lives
  • Pilot Program – Focuses on lives of two greater one-horned rhinos, Taj and Glenn, which have been transferred to new area that was previously inhabited by elephants
  • Virtual Reality Content – Partnered with Oculus to develop 360-degree video that showcases daily life of rhinos from caretakers’ perspective
  • Bluetooth Beacons – Launched Rhino Lookout, in collaboration with analytics solution provider Footmarks, which leverages bluetooth beacons to push content to visitors’ zoo mobile app, including quizzes, videos, facts and action tips
  • Initiative Goal – Aims to determine if technology tools can help increase empathy for animals among visitors, potentially enabling them to take active pro-conservation stance in future
  • Limited Availability – During beta phase, 360-degree video content available to select visitor groups only, while Rhino Lookout mobile app is only available for iPhones

Accelerator

Business Model and Practices

Business Model
and Practices

Sector

Accommodation and Travel, Media and Entertainment, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Organization

Footmarks, Oculus VR Inc., Woodland Park Zoo

Source

Original Publication Date

July 12, 2018

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