Mattamy AC Interactive is a mobile application at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic centre. The App uses augmented reality technology to celebrate the centre’s history as the former Maple Leaf Garden. The project was created by fourth year Ryerson Students: Marshall Jeske, Shaun Ono, Josh Nieman, Ryan Bertram and Dylan McFadyen.

The story of this project begins all the way back in 2009 when I was just a young kid fresh out of high school, moving to Toronto to pursue a career in media. I was a first year student in the Radio and Television Arts program at Ryerson University. That same year, Ryerson announced the purchase of the Maple Leaf Gardens as the site for its new athletic facility. As a big time sports fan I was of course thrilled by the news. My hope was that the new building would be ready before I graduated so I would get some use out of it. After all I was helping to pay for it through my student fees.

Skip ahead to Fall 2012. I was heading into my fourth and final year of study just as the new Mattamy Athletic Centre was set to open it doors. The timing felt perfect.  When I first set foot into the new building I was not disappointed. The renovation had kept the historic charm of the Maple Leaf Gardens while also adding the modern edge that Ryerson is known for. This great blend of old and new inspired me. I began wondering if other students knew how fortunate we were to have such a historic building as our athletic centre. For my graduate project, I wanted to create something that would celebrate the history of the Maple Leaf Gardens as well as showcase the new technology I had learned during my schooling.

I found other graduating students who shared my passion and together we began working on an idea. Over a lunch brainstorm session at Subway we had a breakthrough.  Subway is where I do all my best thinking.

The Mattamy Athletic Centre is filled with numerous historic panels consisting of photographs from iconic moments such as concerts, sporting events and social assemblies. We wanted to make those historic panels fully interactive. Our idea was to create a mobile application that allowed users to scan the photos with their phones and then be able to watch on their screen as the photos came to life as videos. It was a pretty ambitious plan for five students that had never made an app before, but it was an idea we believed in and we were determined to make it work.

After getting approval from our professors and the Mattamy Athletic Centre, we went to work. Our team spent days researching the Gardens history. We were amazed by the variety of events that had taken place and the cultural impact they had on Torontonians. Political rallies, religious assemblies, Beatles’ concerts, the first ever NBA game; over seventy years of incredible events and spectacles. Now we had a new goal. We not only wanted to create something to educate Ryerson students of the Gardens history, but also something that would be a fitting tribute for all those who had experienced it.

The next step was actually designing the app. For this we partnered with an image recognition software company called Aurasma who helped to make our idea a reality.  From there we spent the next months obtaining and creating content. We licensed historic footage from the CBC, NFB and the City of Toronto Archives. This was the most challenging, frustrating and expensive part of the entire project. Maybe it’s just me but I feel that historic footage should be shared throughout the community, not locked away behind massive price tags. All ranting aside, there was a positive in our battle to obtain footage. It forced us to be more creative with our videos. We decided to go film our own interviews and were privileged with the  opportunity to speak to the likes of former Maple Leaf Doug Gilmour and Canadian rock legends Triumph.

The app was launched in February 2013. It is now fully functioning at the Mattamy Athletic Centre and available for download for Apple and Android devices. The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Just last week we received our programs award for best final year project, marking the first time a digital media project has ever won the award.

We’re proud that we were able to contribute to the legacy of such an important building in the Toronto community. We hope to be able to continue down this path, using new technology to reveal more about Toronto’s storied history.

-Marshall Jeske