Not Such A Pretty Picture

It may look like a pleasing pattern but each of these red dots represents a bomb that fell on London during the Blitz (derived from the German term ‘Blitzkrieg’) from October 1940 until mid June in 1941.

The Bomb Sight project is the work of The National Archives in the UK. They scanned original 1940's bomb census maps , geo-referenced the maps and digitally captured the geographical locations of all the falling bombs recorded on the original map.

The data was then been  integrated into 2 different types of applications - an interactive web-mapping application and an Android App with an Augmented Reality view to reveal the locations of the bombs projected into the current urban landscape. So if you are visiting London you can stand on a street holding your phone  and point it in the direction you are interested in. The Bomb Sight App uses your camera and GPS to display all the bombs that fell nearby to where you are.

One can only be grateful that Time Travel has yet to materialise - actually being in the Blitz in real life would have been anything but entertaining!

Related articles

• Blitz interactive map unveiled
• Bomb Sight - Mapping the World War 2 London Blitz Bomb Census

A 3D Digital Future Mapped Out

3D projection is any method of mapping three-dimensional points to a two-dimensional plane. It is put to good use by big brands using this projection mapping technique.

Along with the increasing use of other forms of Augmented Reality such as gestural interaction, we can expect to see these digital projection techniques more often in the future.

Here some mind-blowing examples:

Bombay Sapphire

Red Bull Off The Planet

Hyundai Accent

Johny Walker

and finally a virtual fashion show projected by Ralph Lauren as they transform their London flagship at 1 New Bond Street.

Augmented Reality

Buying a pair of sunglasses will never be the same now that we have the Rayban Virtual Mirror to try them on before we hit the store.


This webcam application rather neatly demonstrates the commercial potential of Augmented Reality.

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