Bear71 is an interactive VR documentary about a female Bear tagged with a GPS-enabled tracker by wildlife conservationists, and her untimely death on the train tracks in Banff National Park. Over the decade of surveillance of her life, over 1 million photos were captured from motion-triggered cameras installed throughout Banff National Park. Along with a wealth of statistical data collected about wild animals, humans and plant-life she co-existed with, our story was born. The data-inspired content is the base of our story, threaded together in a beautiful, abstract 3D/360 terrain for users to explore, through the lens of Bear 71.

Bear71 VR implemented WebVR and WebGL landscape, while maintaining the story and style of the original. Leveraging the VR platform allowed the interactive documentary to connect new and returning users to the content in a more immersive and personal fashion. It built off the launch of WebVR in Google Chrome and the Google Daydream protocol to create a high fidelity, and widely accessible VR experience, as well as versions accessible by Cardboard, mobile and desktop browsers. The VR duration of the project took four months to complete, from kickoff to launch, with many design and development implementations that showcased the data as the foundation of the narrative.

Bear71 a narrative-driven interactive documentary VR experience that relies heavily on data. The data collected from the cameras and GPS tracker allowed consumers to get a deep understanding of what it was like to live life as a Bear in the wild, under constant surveillance. The addition of VR allowed a more natural, organic way of consuming the story and data, as the user could look around in 360 and trigger interactions with the content and data via their gaze.

As a direct result of the awareness raised by Bear71, Parks Canada and CP Rail have started making changes to help better protect wildlife across the country.

With over 1 million pieces of visual content collected from Banff National Park and matched to statistical data, Bear71 VR maintains the story and style of the original, while leveraging the VR platform to connect new and returning users to the content in a more immersive and personal way. Building off the launch of WebVR in Google Chrome and the Google Daydream protocol, a high fidelity and widely accessible VR experience was created that allowed users to select content organically with their gaze, and experience the story in 360 with 3D audio.

With versions available on Cardboard, as well as on mobile and desktop browsers, we were able to target and reach a wide audience, including those interested in the intersection between animals, humans, the environment and technology.

First launched in 2012 as an interactive documentary with a birds-eye view of the environment, Bear71 pieces together grainy photographs and lo-res video to tell the captivating and moving story of a grizzly bear tagged and tracked by surveillance cameras in Banff National Park.

Imagined all along as a 360/3D environment, when the opportunity arose via Google to rebuild Bear71 in WebVR technology optimized for the Daydream, it was a natural fit.

With the launch of Bear71 VR, the agency, Google and the NFB have created an immersive, virtual reality experience accessible to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection through the power of WebVR.