Battle for Water is an educational app that uses documentary multimedia and augmented reality that takes students to the frontlines of the global fight for clean water. Battle for Water follows four young people in their daily search for drinkable water in Mexico, Greenland, Kenya and Lebanon.
Students first have to scan an area of their classroom using their smartphone and place a virtual globe. At four destinations interactive images of children appear. Choosing a child and a destination, students will be transported into a multimedia story explaining the causes and consequences of water scarcity in the specific location.
The total of four stories are all centered around a main character – a child the same age as the students. The main content for each of the multimedia experiences is a 5-6 minute short documentary, where students can see the daily life and challenges of the child and how it is affected by water scarcity.
After meeting the main characters, students get the chance to explore a total of four possible solutions to the water crisis in AR; a unique tower, an earthscraper, a solar-generated pump and a desalination plant. The AR-experiences will be integrated at the end of each multimedia story .
Students can use their smartphone to place virtual objects into their environment and begin to build and explore the solutions. By building the solutions, moving around the object – and sometimes even inside it – students can make a 360 degrees interactive exploration of the object. They will also activate several ‘hot spots’ on the object, unlocking information that helps them understand and evaluate what they are experiencing. Using AR helps the students fully understand the solutions and make them real and tangible.
Ultimately, the purpose of Battle for Water is to encourage and inspire future generations to use technology and natural science to create solutions to global challenges affecting billions of lives, such as water scarcity.