Interactive Augmented Reality Tours coming to Mississauga through
RIC Centre Community Collaboration with ImagineAR™
RIC Centre is announcing their first Digital Main Street Community Collaboration Project, delivering augmented reality walking tours for the Streetsville Business Improvement Area (BIA) in Mississauga using the ImagineAR™ augmented reality (AR) platform. This Digital Main Street project is made possible through financial support from the Government of Canada through FedDev Ontario’s Regional Relief and Recovery Fund.
Home to the largest concentration of historic buildings in Mississauga, Streetsville’s main street blends old world charm with its 300+ small businesses in a mix of heritage and modern buildings. Since hosting large group walking tours is no longer feasible due to COVID-19, this Community Collaboration Project is designed to help Streetsville BIA offer self-guided, interactive tours for anyone using their smart phone or mobile device. Individuals or small family groups who are interested in combining a little learning with their outdoor recreation activities can download the ImagineAR app and join the tour at any point along Queen Street South in Streetsville.
ImagineAR™ will create engaging, interactive experiences that combine educational stops at key heritage locations with fun and promotional activations from local businesses. Users simply scan an image at each stop to see and hear the AR activity. These new walking tours will provide a fun outdoor activity that helps residents comply with COVID safety protocols. If desired, users can shop online or phone local businesses for curbside pick-up along the way.
“On behalf of the local business community, we are delighted to bring a Virtual Santa to downtown Streetsville as part of the new ImagineAR heritage walking tours so families can safely get photos with Santa as part of their fresh air activities. We are thankful for the generous support of Heritage Mississauga for providing historical images of Streetsville, video content, and fascinating stories of the Village’s rich history,” Amber Pajtasz, General Manager of the Streetsville BIA stated. “We encourage residents and visitors to walk through and learn about our village during winter 2020/2021 when COVID-19 restrictions prevent us from hosting in-person events.”
“The RIC Centre is delighted to bring technology innovators like ImagineAR together with local BIAs to strengthen the capacity of local businesses to recover from COVID-19 and thrive”, stated Pam Banks, Executive Director of RIC Centre. “The goals for this DMS Community Collaboration project are to test consumer and business acceptance of augmented reality walking tours and their impact on the local economy.”
Alen Paul Silverrstieen, President and CEO of ImagineAR™, declared that using the ImagineAR™ mobile AR platform is an ideal way for BIAs to help local retailers drive in-store and online revenue. “We are grateful for the opportunity to lend our experience and expertise to this project to bring families back into their communities for unique and socially-distanced activities this winter.” The ImagineAR™ app is available for download to mobile devices on the App Store and Google Play.
Signage will be posted at various locations along Queen Street South in Streetsville to let people know how to activate and join the tours. The interactive walking tours will be updated regularly with new business promotions and fun activities to encourage people to come back and enjoy the outdoors and main street businesses safely.
Media Contacts:
RIC Centre: communications@riccentre.com Streetsville BIA: info@villageofstreetsville.com
About RIC Centre
RIC Centre is a not-for-profit innovation hub and business incubator serving the Peel Region and Southern Ontario. RIC Centre’s focus is to be a dynamic catalyst for tech companies. The team consists of more than 100 expert advisors, industry, academic and government partners. RIC Centre helps companies in Advanced Manufacturing, Internet of Things, Hardware & Software, Cleantech and Life Sciences to commercialize their products and get them to market faster.
About ImagineAR™
ImagineAR™ Inc., with headquarters in Vancouver, BC (CSE: IP) (OTC: IPNFF), offers an augmented reality (AR) platform that enables businesses of any size to create and implement their own AR campaigns with no programming or technology experience. Using the ImagineAR mobile app, any organization, from professional sports franchises to small retailers, can develop interactive AR campaigns that blend the real and digital worlds.
About Streetsville BIA
The Streetsville BIA’s mission is to maintain and promote a vibrant business community within the historic Village of Streetsville dedicated to serving the needs of local businesses and residents. The Streetsville BIA is directed by a volunteer Board of Management who meets monthly to deal with a full range of agenda items that impact the heritage sites and businesses along Queen Street South from Britannia Rd W to Reid Drive in Mississauga.
About Digital Main Street:
Digital Main Street is a program that helps main street businesses achieve digital transformation. The program is built around an online learning platform, structured training programs, and our Digital Service Squad, a team of street-level team members who help main street businesses grow and manage their operations through technology. Digital Main Street was created by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) with direct support from the City of Toronto. DMS is also supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Microsoft, Facebook, and Intuit QuickBooks, Square and Yellow Pages.
A $42.5-million investment from FedDev Ontario and an additional $7.45 million from the Government of Ontario brought together the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, Communitech, Invest Ottawa, and the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association to expand the Digital Main Street Platform in order to support more businesses to go digital as a response to the impacts of COVID-19.
About FedDev Ontario:
For more than 10 years, FedDev Ontario has worked to advance and diversify the southern Ontario economy through funding opportunities and business services that support innovation and growth in Canada’s most populous region. Learn more about the impacts the Agency is having in southern Ontario by exploring our pivotal projects.