Gradually but steadily, the myth, doubt and disbelief that greeted the idea of an Eko Atlantic City that would rise on the Bar Beach from land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean are fading away with each milestone achieved in the development of the world-class city.
A couple of months ago, the planners and developers of the city stunned the entire Lagos community with the illumination of the city’s Business District also called Eko Boulevard with floodlight that simply gave a glimpse into the bigger picture of what to expect from the city in the months and years ahead.
Recently, the developers introduced high level technology into the development and promotion of the city with the launching of a Mobile App that, among other functions, brings to life the virtual reality of the city, making it possible for owners of new generation smart phones and tablets (Android and iOS platforms) to view and interact with the city in the comfort of their homes and offices.
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Eko Atlantic City is arguably Nigeria’s new destination, lying on 10 square kilometers stretch of reclaimed land on the shores of Victorian Island in Lagos. Its physical reality is clear to see with the naked eye, but the virtual reality is being brought to life through the Mobile App technology.
At a media presentation of this app at the weekend, officials of South Energyx Nigeria Limited—developers of the city—explained that the app, which was interactive with their new Eko Atlantic Milestones newsletter, was also available at their sales office in Ahmadu Bello Way and online through their Eko Atlantic website.
According to them, the app has several features, the smartest of which is Augmented Reality (AR) – a cutting edge technology that displays a digitally enhanced view of objects or locations.
“Using the camera and sensors in a smartphone or tablet, AR adds layers of digital information including videos, photos, sounds, graphics or GPS data directly on top of items in the real world”, the officials said, adding that besides an easy-to-use presentation, the app also features a graphic overview of the infrastructure networks progress as well as a gyroscope-enhanced virtual tour enabling users to navigate through the Eko Atlantic city development site just by moving their mobile device around.
“The pre-launch app is a curtain raiser for what comes next”, said Brent Sadler, Eko Atlantic’s consultant for communications, pointing out that “what you can see with the app now takes the visibility of Eko Atlantic to an entirely new level. But we are going to make the app even better, smarter and more interactive”.
The first edition of Eko Atlantic’s Milestones newsletter, also online, together with the new mobile app enables recipients to interact with selected pages of the journal through the AR function.
The newsletter has 20-pages of illustrated articles reporting on the construction of roads and bridges in the city as well as the first commercial and residential tower blocks being built.
The app can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play. More information can be obtained by visiting the Eko Atlantic website.
CHUKA UROKO
