Directions

There's something to be said for these old style directions. Trying to find your way around London can be difficult at times. Generally street names are at the beginning and end of a street. If you come in a block in between try finding a sign post to tell you where you are. Almost impossible. Ask someone for directions and they're likely to tell you they are not from around here and they don't know.

Helping you to find the Wellcome LibrARy

… or, the Wellcome Library augments reality

Wouldn’t it be nice if, for your visit to the Wellcome Library, you had a personal guide to get you all the way from the station or bus stop and right to our door? You can already get good Google Maps directions to the Wellcome Library, but now we’ve gone one better.

The Wellcome Library is now in Layar [1], an augmented reality app for smartphones. Augmented reality (AR) overlays your view of the real environment with computer-generated input such as graphics, sound or video [2].

What does this mean for us? Now you can just follow your smartphone to the Wellcome Library.

For example, from Euston Station I can look on my phone for any local layers or spots in Layar:

Turning in the direction indicated by the spot on the target, information pops up on screen about the Wellcome Library:

Tapping this opens up more details:

The actions at the bottom are self-explanatory. ‘Take me there’ opens your phone’s mapping app or software, and shows you where you are and where the Wellcome Library is. It’s then simply a question of following your phone. If you keep the spot in the target area segment facing forward you can’t go too far wrong.

The traditionalists amongst you can still find the Wellcome Library using the location information on our website, or a good old London A-Z.

[1] Layar is available for Android, Ovi Nokia and iOS devices.

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality