Floating through time on the Rideau Canal

by Nicole Findlay

Next summer visitors to the Rideau Canal will be able to slip through time and journey through the UNESCO World Heritage site’s past.

The Carleton Centre for Public History (CCPH) is working on a year-long project to develop a smartphone app that will allow users to both see and map the waterway’s past and present.  The Rideau Canal Heritage Visualization Application (RCHV) will merge images until now only accessible through archives and museums with GPS technology.

“This free downloadable app will allow users to point their smartphones at a landscape to view images and information related to that particular location, and overlay the historical image with the contemporary scene,” explains James Opp, history professor and co-director of CCPH.  They can also layer photos one over the other to virtually witness the evolution of the heritage site.

Opp has partnered with Anthony Whitehead, director of the School of Information Technology to lead an interdisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate students who will dig up the images and develop the application for the 202 km area.

“The Rideau Canal is particularly suited for this type of application, given its rich textual and visual documentation, architectural significance, and status as a World Heritage Site,” said Opp.

“Instead of simply “digitizing” heritage, this project utilizes mobile technologies, GPS, and Augmented Reality to allow the user to visualize history “in place.”

The Department of Heritage is funding the project through the Canada Interactive Fund.