Plans lodged to install digital binoculars for augmented reality trails outside Paul’s silo at Ipswich waterfront

More plans have been lodged to install ‘digital binoculars’ for use in augmented reality trails set to come to Ipswich later this year.

Ipswich Borough Council is hoping to place the installations outside Paul’s silo, in St Peter’s Wharf, at the waterfront.

If approved, they would be available for use by passers-by and would provide content relating to the town’s rich maritime history.

This follows a separate application last month, where plans for four more binoculars were submitted. In total, four augmented reality trails are planned for 2025.

These would be placed at the both the James Hehir Building and the Old Customs House, at the waterfront; next to the Giles Circus statue, at the junction with Butter Market, and next to the old Grimwades buildings in the Cornhill.

The borough council also has plans to install one inside Christchurch Park, although an application for this has yet to be lodged.

The augmented reality trails form part of the Digital Ipswich scheme, which aims to make the town more ‘digitally enabled’.

As part of this scheme, the borough council also hoped to place a digital portal – like the famous Dublin-New York portal from last year – in the Cornhill, connecting the town with another location.

The proposals will go before planners soon.