Stamford Hackathon: Winning Team Used Blippbuilder Script To Create “TrippAR”

Earlier this year, Stamford hosted its bi-annual hackathon, cultivating a multitude of participants and developers under one roof. The hackathon was led by global partners such as IBM, Uber and Blippar, to offer the best data and APIs. The overarching theme of the hackathon was a combination of virtual reality, augmented reality and “Smart Cities”. The main goal was to create innovative methods, using AR and VR, to improve public services and people’s experience of cities. Participants had access to city models, datasets and the best technology to beat the coding challenges.

Developers, Alex Long and Andrew Leung, used Blippar’s Blippbuilder Script tool to create the app, TrippAR. TrippAR won Alex and Andrew the best use of sponsor technology. TrippAR aims to help tourists in foreign countries learn more about historical landmarks. It also provides the option to book an Uber to get to neighbouring sites too. Using Blippar, users can scan historical landmarks, and information will pop up. The idea for the app stemmed from the fact that Alex was unfamiliar with the local area while Andrew was very familiar. And so a tourist app that helped locals show their guests around made perfect sense.

When asked about their decision to use Blippbuilder Script, Alex said it was initially because he “got addicted to [Blippar] shortly after finding it. It was just so cool to be able to do AR right on [his] phone.” His teammate, Andrew, was interested in some of the other technology offered by sponsors. Together, they managed to seamlessly integrate all the technology together to create a winning app. Although it wasn’t all plain sailing, the pair noted the “great resources” Blippbuilder Script has for getting you started. A particular aspect that they enjoyed was that it uses a lot of native javascript, so it didn’t require the developers to learn new, complicated coding languages.

TrippAR won the best use of sponsor technology for a number of reasons. The team made the best use out of the sponsors, where they used a range of technologies from five different companies. The app was also the best minimum viable product, where it was fully usable, efficient and enticing. Alex and Andrew gave live demos, showing users information about the Stamford town hall and letting them call an Uber through the Blippar app. They emphasised that a city like Stamford could start using their app with relatively little additional work if they wanted to.

To find out more about their hackathon experience and app, visit Andrew’s blog or follow Alex Long and Andrew Leung on Twitter. Don’t forget to blipp the image below to check out their interactive creation - be sure to change your location to the United States.

Interested in creating your own augmented reality experiences? Sign up for Blippbuilder Script now, it’s free for personal use.