Smithsonian Skin and Bones mobile app for NMNH

From January 13, 2015, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, has made available through the App Store a new free app for iPhone and iPad entitled “Skin and Bones”.

The app is an innovative augmented reality tool that can be used in conjunction with the spectacular Bone Hall, one of the oldest and most successful exhibits, featuring approximatively 300 skeletons of vertebrates and which foundation dates back to 1881.

By installing the free app on an Apple phone or tablet, the user visiting the Bone Hall can bring back to life 13 of those skeletons and, through an interactive menu, obtain information, watch videos and 3D-modeled animated reconstructions.
The app, developed by the Smithsonian in collaboration with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and thanks to a grant by Booz Allen Hamilton, uses a combination of 3d-tracking and augmented reality techniques and took two years to develop.

The “Skin and Bones” app is available for free at the App Store here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skin-bones/id929733243?ls=1&mt=8

The Bone Hall at the National Museum of Natural History, photo by Ryan Somma

“Skin and Bones” app screenshots, images courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution.
Cover image courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution.