Founded in 1855, Michigan State University is the nation’s pioneer land-grant university. Today, MSU is one of the largest universities in the US with over 50,000 students and holds many distinctions, including being one of the top 70 universities in the world.

Each year, thousands of people come to MSU for the first time, including some 8,000 freshmen. MSU’s campus is comprised of hundreds of buildings spread across its large 5,200-acre sprawling campus. Navigating this large campus is a challenge for all newcomers who often rely on paper maps and hard-to-find signs.

Our Navigating MSU’s Campus Using Augmented Reality app leverages augmented reality (AR) to guide people around MSU’s large campus with ease.

Our app, shown at the right, identifies and labels buildings and landmarks simply by using the camera of any supported mobile device. Some landmarks, such as the Spartan Statue and the Rock, have clickable names where a user can learn fun facts about them.

A user can easily navigate MSU’s campus with a 3D AR experience called wayfinding, which gives directions to any destination on campus.

After selecting a destination, directional arrows, as seen at the right, are overlaid on a user’s mobile device showing the way to go. Users simply follow the arrows to find their way to their chosen destination.

Our Navigating MSU’s Campus Using Augmented Reality app supports both Google Android and Apple iOS, which use ARCore and ARKit SDKs respectively. Our app obtains building information and wayfinding directions from MSU’s ArcGIS API.