Google Helps Tell the Story of Stonewall in Augmented Reality

Snapchat isn't the only tech company transforming landmarks with augmented reality for Pride Month.

About four miles southwest of New York's iconic Flatiron Building, which is getting its own Pride makeover via Snapchat's Landmarker AR, Stonewall National Monument is also receiving some augmented reality treatment by way of the Stonewall Forever mobile app published by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center (better known as The Center) in partnership with Google.

Google Helps Tell the Story of Stonewall in Augmented Reality — *Image by Google/YouTube*

Available via the App Store and Google Play, the app, along with an accompanying documentary released on June 3, pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

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With the app installed, visitors to New York City's Christopher Park, designated as a National Monument in 2016 by President Barack Obama, can see a rainbow of shapes in their camera view.

As visitors move around their environment, they can interact with those shapes to unlock audio, videos, and more information about the raid of the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street on June 28, 1969, and the riots in response to the raid that catalyzed the Pride Movement.

For those unable to visit the park, the app presents a 360-degree virtual representation of the park.

"To recognize this pivotal moment in history, the LGBT Community Center of New York City (The Center) spearheaded the creation of Stonewall Forever, an interactive 'living monument' to 50 years of Pride. Google provided support in the form of a $1.5 million grant from Google.org, and volunteers from Google Creative Lab helped bring the experience to life," said William Floyd, director of public policy for Google.org, Google's philanthropic foundation.

While Pride Month is best known as a celebration for the LGBTQ community, it's also an ideal time to recognize the history that made progress possible. Between location-based experiences and image recognition capabilities, augmented reality is a particularly strong medium for bringing the past to life for current and future generations.