Our Stories

The City of Charlotte, in collaboration with Potions & Pixels, Gökotta, the Knight Foundation and Google Fiber, launched a new interactive augmented reality app during the spring of 2023. The Our Stories CLT app augmented reality experience leads users through the historic cemetery by showing them hidden documents that illuminate stories of Charlotte’s past while honoring residents who contributed to the community.

Students of The Charlotte AR Experience camp created a mobile app for the once-segregated historic Elmwood/Pinewood cemetery after they were shocked to learn that “empty” sections of the cemetery were areas where thousands of African Americans were buried without headstones. Inspired to right this wrong, students conducted research to help tell the stories of those individuals once forgotten, unknown or overlooked.

In response to community feedback, the city in 2019 started to build cohesive elements that focused on community storytelling through digital resources for the Urban Arboretum Trail located on surface streets near I-77 and the Brookshire Freeway. A prototype of the app was completed during the summer of 2021 as students toured sites throughout Charlotte to test the augmented reality features.

Our Stories App QR Code

app store QR code for elmwood cemetery

App stores listed below.

Apple Store Our Stories CLT

Google store Our Stories CLT

Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery App

“At the summer camps, parents shared with us how impactful this camp was not just for their teens, but also for them,” said Rachel Stark, program manager for the city’s Smart Cities program. “From learning their own community’s history, to connecting to new career paths, to being part of shaping something that would be built for others to appreciate, parents were giving this experience an A-plus.”

The public is encouraged to download the app and visit the historic Elmwood/Pinewood cemetery.

All cars should enter the cemetery at 700 W. Sixth St. and follow traffic instructions. Pedestrians and cyclists may use the Ninth Street entrance where the app experience begins.

Transcription The Charlotte AR Experience

0:00

[Music]

0:11

i think this week we've noticed that you

0:14

guys

0:15

between monday and today are very

0:17

different

0:17

[Music]

0:26

having your voice and your perspective

0:28

has helped me

0:29

as an urban designer think about these

0:31

spaces differently think about it more

0:32

playfully honestly thinking about spaces

0:34

is not just a place for people from a to

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b but what can you learn and discover

0:38

while having fun in our places in the

0:41

city

0:43

one of the things that michael and i

0:44

really tried to accomplish this week was

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to expose you to as much ar technology

0:50

that's out there as possible and whether

0:53

you realize it or not what you were

0:55

doing along the way is figuring out what

0:57

you really liked what you didn't like

1:01

and what worked

1:02

so what miss rachel was really hoping is

1:05

that you guys could share a different

1:08

viewpoint than maybe if the three of us

1:11

had sat down and come up with something

1:12

because you guys look at things

1:13

differently than we do

1:16

a lot of you sometimes you know will

1:18

seem like you're you might be looking

1:20

this way or thinking about something

1:21

else and then when we asked you what

1:23

your favorite part of the day was it was

1:25

the thing that we weren't sure you even

1:26

pay attention to necessarily

1:28

and thank you so many community members

1:30

that helped out in so many different

1:32

ways by either donating your time

1:34

donating space donating expertise and

1:37

just being

1:38

absolutely so supportive throughout the

1:39

whole week

1:42

[Music]

1:53

[Music]

2:00

you

 

 

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