An “augmented reality tour” of historic trees in the Dundas Driving Park will feature virtual field guides, old photos and artwork of some of the park’s biggest trees.
“The basic idea is to reconnect our community to the trees in the park using technology,” said organizer Steve Hill, a Dundas resident and senior ecologist at Dougan & Associates, an ecological consulting and design firm.
The Driving Park augmented reality tree tour received $2,000 in funding from the City of Hamilton’s placemaking grant program, as did a separate Dundas Seed Library ($1,250) project.
Seeds of Change co-organizer Zoe Green said the first two of five seed libraries have been introduced at Tweedsmuir Avenue and St. Mark’s United Church at Lynndale Drive and Governor’s Road. The St. Mark’s seed library was temporarily removed to be painted by a local artist.
Green said Carnegie Gallery helped reach out to artists to paint the seed libraries.
“The third one is going to the Driving Park. We have an event Saturday, Nov. 6 for that unveiling. Details to be posted soon,” Green said. “The fourth will be going to Yorkview School and fifth at Dundas Valley School of Art.”
She said Yorkview’s seed library will be painted by students.
Hill said the Driving Park big-tree tour is a bit behind schedule, but likely to be up and running this winter or in spring 2022.
“The virtual field guide component will help to identify the species of trees and provide an overview of their importance to urban ecology,” he said.
Historical photos will help present a story of what the trees have witnessed thorough the past few centuries.
“I suspect it will focus on the importance of the park for community events, recreation (and) leisure through the decades,” Hill said.
Dundas Museum & Archives education co-ordinator Anna Patterson, Dundas Central School teacher Rob Bell and local history buff Stan Nowak are partners in that part of the project.
The last component involves an artistic tour of Driving Park trees.
“The aim will be to showcase artwork by local artists,” Hill said.
He said a few physical signs will be placed in the park, providing a QR code participants can scan with a smartphone or tablet to activate the free app.
“There will be a digital map that tour participants can follow that will direct them to where the augmented reality activations are located,” Hill said.
The former Dundas Valley Tree Keepers (DVTK) group organized a 2007 tree inventory that included the Dundas Driving Park. Results included eight “candidate heritage trees” and nine “regionally rare native trees” in the park.
Among those is a well-known large burr oak that Hill estimates, based its circumference, could be more than 300 years old.
The burr oak has been a common backdrop for photos for many years in the park and was named the “top historical landmark” in the DVTK 2009 Heritage Tree Hunt.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: We wanted to learn more about two placemaking projects — an augmented reality tour of big trees in Dundas Driving Park, and the Dundas Seed Library.
