The augmented Reality Sandbox is an interactive tool, built to assist teaching and understanding of basic topography. The concept is simple. A designated computer is programmed to read the sand through a Kinect, process the information and project it through a short-range projector onto the sand. The sand in the sandbox is meant to imitate actual terrain. A sensor reads the sand, sends the data to a computer that returns a topographical map projected on top of the sand. As the sand moves around, the map would follow to correspond to the terrain. In this way, a close relationship between map and terrain will be established that can increase an understanding of how they correlate.

After the sandbox had been of use for us as a learning tool, it was brought to a nearby high school for further utilization. Although only for a short period of time, it was easy for the students to become mesmerized by the interactive tool and play on their own to build an understanding of topographical maps.

Below is are pictures from the construction as well as the showcase of the finished product.

The Augmented Reality Sandbox was a collaborative project between the Architectural Design Studio II of Savannah College of Art and Design and Jasper Design Studios.