CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Coastal Bend graphic designer is giving Downtown Corpus Christi a new look, and it's thanks to augmented reality headsets.
22-year-old Matthew Morel, 22, is the designer of some headsets that are part of an augmented reality system that gives users a completely new way to view some of downtown's best-known landmarks.
Now, thanks to a collaboration between the augmented reality maps and Snapchat, murals in Corpus Christi become 3D.
"I really wanted to take it a step further and make something new,” Morel said.
He said he loves to Snapchat, and he is using the app to develop new ways for people to connect to the city.
“It's fun because it's something new. It's something that people have never really seen before, and it adds an entire new layer to what we see around the world today,” he said.
This is the first augmented reality view of the downtown infrastructure. Morel said there's a big difference between virtual reality and augmented reality.
“In virtual reality, you're strictly surrounded around a virtual world," he said. "However, in augmented reality, the virtual world is mixed with the real world.”
According to Snapchat, last year, more than 300 million people used the social media platform daily. Morel said he believed this would be the perfect outlet for his audience.
“Who wants to download a new app when they have Snapchat that has the best AR technology already available?” he said.
Morel hopes to connect people to the city of Corpus Christi and to give them a different outlook on life.
And people don’t have to use the augmented reality headsets, but if they do, they will get the whole experience.
Dispensable headsets are available at Blue Shore Pedal Longue and Color Capture Selfie Museum.
There are a total of seven augmented reality sites around the city:
- The Goldfish Bar
- Corpus Christi LED
- Color Capture Selfie Museum
- Blue Shore Pedal Lounge
- HypeByke
- Cameron Wall’s Corpus Christi Mural
- Born to Fly mural
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