Eleven mythical characters from Japanese legends have recently been hiding in the Japanese Garden in Wrocław. Can you find them all? The „LegendARy" application developed by our Faculty's students in cooperation with Nomtek.
The Japanese Garden in Wrocław includes, among others: original stone lanterns and bowls for ritual hand washing from the 18th and 19th centuries, and about 200 species and varieties of trees and shrubs. Now, there are also images of ghosts and legendary characters from Japanese mythology, all thanks to the application developed by Maja Wymysłowska, Filip Stachowiak and Kacper Radota, students of Applied Computer Science in English at W4.
The idea was born during an internship at the Nomtek company in Wrocław, under the supervision of Paulina Nowicka.
Japanese legends and myths
– We knew that we wanted to create an augmented reality application that could be used in the open space. And the idea that it would be related to Japanese mythology was born during the workshops organized by Paulina Nowicka on the first day of the internship – says Filip Stachowiak, who was responsible for the front-end of the project. – There were a lot of interesting ideas then, including the use of images, and that's how the whole concept of the application was born – he adds.
The images of characters from Japanese mythology used in the application are inspired by Kojiki, or the Book of Ancient Beliefs, considered to be the oldest monument of Old Japanese literature and language. It is a collection of oral stories, in which true events mix with legends and fairy tales, and it was written in the early 8th century. The author of the graphics is Anna Herman, a Ph.D. student from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, who agreed to make her works available for the project.
– Having paintings on such themes at our disposal, we decided that the best place in Wrocław where they could be presented is the Japanese Garden. It's a great place for a walk, full of Far Eastern atmosphere and beautiful views – explains Maja Wymysłowska, responsible for the front-end of the project. – Initially, we chose darker characters from Japanese myths, but ultimately we decided that it would be much better if the setting also included characters that could be related to places in the garden, e.g. a waterfall – she adds.
These included, among others: The Dragon of Koshi and the Maiden Emerging from the Great Marsh, symbolizing Azuki Island.
Choose your path
After starting the application on the phone, an arrow appears on the screen, indicating the recommended direction for taking the tour around the garden. After reaching a specific place, you must scan it to discover a hidden image and learn the legend of a given character. In total, you can find eleven paintings depicting not only ghosts, but also legendary rulers.
–The arrow allows the user to choose any walking route, which seemed to us a much better idea than pasting a ready-made map and also gives more fun while exploring. The already found images can be seen on the screen in the real environment, but we can save them in our collection and return to the description of their legend at any time – explains Kacper Radota, back-end developer in the project.
The images have been placed in such a way that the user can take a walk around the entire garden, and it takes about an hour to complete the route and scan all the places. The application has been prepared in three language versions: Polish, English and Ukrainian, as well as with audio versions.
Pokemon-based technology
Work on the application started in July 2023, when students began their internship at Nomtek, and lasted until early April. Their internship was the result of their activity in the JavaTech Student Research Club, supervised by Prof. Dariusz Król, vice-dean for general affairs at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology.
– Initially, we thought we would be completing a project left by the previous interns, but we met Paulina Nowicka, who became our supervisor. She trusted us and helped us a lot. She gave us complete freedom to design the entire project – says Maja
Wymysłowska.
– We really wanted this project to become, to some extent, a model solution of what can be done during an internship in our company. We also wanted it to actually be used later. When it turned out that the application would ultimately be associated with the Japanese Garden, we contacted the City Greenery Board in Wrocław, which agreed to cooperate with us,” adds Paulina Nowicka.
During the internship, students developed, among others: 3D scans of all the most important places in the Japanese Garden, prepared 3D models of images and the application interface. However, they agree that the biggest challenge was changing the program implementation technology several times.
– The first version was based on Google technology and although it works well in showing large elements, for example on building facades, in places where there are a lot of trees, there were problems with determining the location. Then we decided to change the technology to Niantic, which is used, for example, in the Pokemon GO game. In the meantime, however, an update to this solution appeared, which also forced us to update the code, and that was time-consuming – explains Kacper Radota.
Creativity in the first place
The „LegendARy" application is free and available in Google Play and App Store. In front of the entrance to the Japanese Garden, there will soon be a board informing about the program along with a QR code enabling you to download the app just before starting the walk.
It is also possible that the application will be further developed in the future. – We had a lot of ideas, but the time frame of the entire project significantly verified our plans. The application will definitely be available this year throughout the season when the Japanese Garden is open. We will probably make some minor corrections, but the future of the entire project is yet to be discussed –says Filip Stachowiak.
The students emphasize that the experiences gained during the internship made them realize that an IT career does not have to be only about sitting behind a monitor, but also allows them to develop their creativity in many other aspects.
– I must admit that at the beginning I was fascinated by programming, but now I approach it more calmly. It's an important skill in today's job market, but I could make the best of it only in combination with the creative aspects of developing application – emphasizes Maja Wymysłowska.
The „LegendARy" application has been submitted to take parti in the competition Auggie Awards as part of the AWEXR conference, which will be held in the United States in June. You can vote until 22 May on the event website.
The Japanese Garden in Wrocław was established in 1913 around the former Ludwig Theodor Moritz-Eichborn pond as one of the exhibitions of the Garden Art Exhibition as part of the Centennial Exhibition. However, not much has survived from that period, and the current garden, opened in 1999, has a completely different shape and is larger. It includes, among others: original stone lanterns and bowls for ritual hand washing from the 18th and 19th centuries, and about 200 species and varieties of trees and shrubs.
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