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Sustainability
for Frontgrid to install a ParadropVR pop-up and launch the new Pod hardware last year. Using LidAR data and Unreal engine, Frontgrid
created in a VR format an exact topographical representation of Snowdonia National Park, enabling players to explore the renowned and protected area without needing to set foot there - while at the same time inspiring a connection to and appreciation for this landscape that the player may not have had before. The Fly Snowdon series consists of three games.
The first, Snowdon Navigator, is designed to orientate people in Snowdonia National Park. Players are spawned above Yr Wyddfa (also known as Snowdon). Business development director for Frontgrid,
Tammy Owens, led the project. She says: “VR offers an opportunity to teach people about real world environments in a different way. They get used to the breathtaking sensation of flying above the mountains, a sight they would not normally get to see. The concept is, by getting people to explore an environment in VR, people begin to connect with it, and that this can impact their exploration in the real world.” The second game encourages flyers to fly
over a famous walking route called the 14 Peaks Challenge. This encompasses all the mountains over 3,000 feet across the mountain ranges that make up Snowdonia National Park. As people fly over each peak, they collect points and on finishing the game they are awarded an achievement badge which features on their online flying profile. The third game sees players flying by night.
Tammy says: “We created a sky dome, which exactly plots the constellations of the stars. As players fly towards the constellations they light up. Post the experience they receive an education pack including game cards which teach people about the constellations.” Snowdonia National Park is one of the best
places to go stargazing, and the point of the game is to educate people about the benefits of reducing light pollution, something which the park also proactively works on, being one of the UK’s Dark Skies Reserves. Following their installation, Adventure Parc
Snowdonia director, Andy Ainscough, commented: “The Fly Snowdon pods are a fantastic, ground- breaking addition to the activities we can offer. “We’ve all seen the queues of people waiting
to get to the summit of Snowdon but now you can swoop over Wales’s highest peaks and the rest of the spectacular range of mountains without ever leaving the ground. So, as well as being a thrilling ride, it’s also eminently sustainable.” The ride has unveiled the potential for VR to serve
as a solution to Snowdonia’s over-tourism issue, which has escalated in recent years. More than
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660,000 visitors climbed Snowdon during 2021, and Gwynedd council has aired concerns that parts of Snowdonia have joined major European destinations like Amsterdam, Barcelona and Venice in having more visitors than they can cope with. Of the influx of tourists during the pandemic,
council leader, Dyfrig Siencyn, said: "We've experienced two years of very unusual tourist seasons, from lockdown to a very large influx of new tourists - those people who would probably have gone overseas for their holidays. "It was very good for businesses and our local
economy, but we also had a new kind of tourist, who really didn't understand the communities that we live in, or the environment." These tourists left behind litter and damaged
footpaths and the local landscapes due to their sheer numbers. And these numbers have remained high in the wake of the pandemic - especially on Mt. Snowdon in particular. The Fly Snowdon experience showed people that Snowdon is not the only mountain worth exploring,
with the hope that if they choose to move beyond VR and explore Snowdonia in real life, they do so with respect for this stunning natural environment. And the project has the potential to be applied in many more locations and tourist destinations. Tammy said: “The Snowdon pop-up was part of
a wider research project called ‘Creating a virtual paradigm’, looking at how to use VR to connect people with real world environments by looking at the world differently. This has meant we have created a methodology for looking at how to drive positive impact across the customer experience to apply to future work. What’s next? Frontgrid has a few really exciting projects in the pipeline which we look forward to sharing.” The Snowdon pop-up complemented some of
Frontgrid’s existing portfolio of location-based flying attractions, from flying over Bangkok in VR, an installation homed at King Power Mahanakhon Tower (the tallest tower in Bangkok), to flying a mission at the National Infantry Museum, in Georgia USA.
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