Hallo, Politik
Every year the Federal Chancellery, the federal ministries and the Federal Press Office open their doors to the general public for one weekend to let visitors take a look behind the political scenes in Berlin. The “open day” regularly draws crowds of around 70,000 people.
As a novelty in 2019 we built a digital companion app for this event – “Hallo, Politik”. In collaboration with the agency “Zum Goldenen Hirschen” – in an act of sustainability – we re-used most components of an app we had previously built for the Bundespresseamt (BPA-Fahrt) and built “Hallo, Politik” as a white label app for both iOS and Android.
All event data was entered through a custom-built backend system that featured automatic geotagging of POIs and AR asset handling.
The mobile apps’ main functionalities included:
– a list/map view of the the event’s schedule
– an advanced filtering functionality that would enable users to easily dig through ~650 programme items based on their individual preferences
– push notifications to communicate changes in the schedule
– navigation capabilities for each point of interest
In excess to this we implemented advanced features such as augmented reality & image recognition, location-based notifications, Spotlight integration and a 360-degree bird’s eye view – for details scroll down.
The app was very well received and got featured on Apple’s App Store. 
The project scope included accompanying support for external BSI and accessibility reviews, which were conducted before publishing the app.
ClientPresse- und Informationsamt der BundesregierungServicesIT Consulting, Concept, UX, Development, Project ManagementYear2019Linkwww.bundesregierung.de
Augmented Reality & Image Recognition
For the "German Chancellery" we added something special. The venue hosts an art gallery that depicts the country's former chancellors. By utilising both image recognition and augmented reality technology we were able to integrate an "Art Scanner" into the app, which is able to identify the respective paintings and overlay them with information. The users can then tab on that overlay to display further information. (Unfortunately, security restrictions restrict camera usage within the venue, which is why the video below shows the "Art Scanner" used on a development machine)
Location-Based Notifications
By making use of OS-provided location-based notifications we were able to allow each of the 18 venues to announce special events to visitors upon entering the premises without compromising the users privacy by requiring location services.
Spotlight Integration
Utilizing iOS's Spotlight API we were able to provide a keyword-based search functionality for our app's content without cluttering the UI within our app.
Bird's-Eye
A 360 degree bird's eye view was available for every federal building that participated in the event. This custom implementation is similar to the city tour in Apple Maps' Flyover mode.
Accessibility
Making the app accessible to everyone has been one of the main focus points of this project. We support the OS's native system accessibility features like Dynamic Type, VoiceOver or Keyboard assistance.
Universal Design
The app runs on iPhones and iPads in both portrait and landscape mode.
Reception
The app was very well received. It got featured by Apple on the App Store and topped out at rank 16 of the App Store's charts on publishing day - all while receiving almost exclusively 5-star ratings.
