Mobile augmented reality technology can be a bit geeky, but a new iPhone app called Magic Safari puts AR to nifty use in an animal-spotting game for children.
Actually, augmented reality makes it sound a bit more complicated than it is: this is more about automatic photo manipulation. The idea: walk around your neighborhood (or wherever you happen to be at the time) and take photos. Magic Safari then inserts one of a range of animals for your child to ‘spot’.
There are horses, elephants, lions, tigers and even some dinosaurs and dragons to be found, with their locations plotted on a map so your child can see where they were spotted. It’s a really good idea, and one that might work particularly well when on holiday to encourage exploration (as opposed to just bunkering down on the sofa with Angry Birds).
Actually, if they could put an Angry Bird or two in there, that might be fun… Magic Safari costs £1.49 / $1.99 on the App Store.