In the app, historical photos convey the history of the warehouse district, drawn from the archives of the Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), and the State Archive. Through explanatory texts and eyewitness accounts, you can learn more about the development of the warehouse district and daily life. A map view allows quick orientation and shows the location of sights. On-site, every visitor can draw a direct comparison between today and the past using Augmented Reality (AR) on their smartphone or tablet.

In the map overview of the app “Speicherstadt digital” all AR locations in the warehouse district are marked. If the user switches to AR mode, the display changes to the current camera view, here the user can select the AR location, to which he/she is then guided by GPS using arrows. If the user is near the target, a marker on the path will show the so-called “Sweet Spot”, this is the optimal viewing point for the selected image. If the user is standing close to this location, the historical photo fits perfectly into the current camera image. The sensors in the mobile device, such as the electronic compass and the tilt sensor, are used both for navigation and for perspective adjustment of the image. Additionally, transparency effects are calculated at the edges of the image to create a seamless overall image.

“Speicherstadt digital” is initiated by the department for culture and media. In addition to Fraunhofer FOKUS, the Department of Culture and Media, Dataport, the Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Google Arts & Culture, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), HITec, the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), IG Kulturquartier as well as the University of Hamburg and Wilhelm.tel are involved in the project