Star Chart

By: Elaine Jiang

Description

Star Chart is an AR star library. Simply hold your devices up to the sky, and Star Chart will immediately track your location and display the constellations you are currently looking at through your device's camera. The constellation drawings will show up along with their names and useful facts. Other features include being able to manually set your location to find out what the sky looks like anywhere on earth and being able to explore other objects in the sky.

Installing and Running

Prerequisites: a device that contains a built-in compass

  1. Download the app here. (All you need is an Apple account.)

  2. Open the app on your device and enjoy!

Hardware Requirements

  • Star Chart is currently available to download here for all devices that include a built-in compass.

Metrics

General Statistics: User demographic, number of downloads

  • Over 20 million downloads

Accessibility: Cost, hardware requirements, languages, etc.

  • Cost: $2.99 from iTunes

  • Hardware requirements: low-cost — anyone with a device that tracks location can access the application

  • Touch interactivity: users can use finger gestures to navigate the sky instead of walking around pointing their phones; this is a safer alternative (especially for younger children) and also makes the app accessible to those with mobility difficulties

Learning Time: How long it takes to learn how to use the software as a first-time user

  • < 10 minutes: easy to use; features are organized; catered towards primary and secondary school children