SenseTime Elevates Shopping Experience at Chengdu IFS with its SenseMARS AR Platform

Bringing China's first all-scenario AR navigation powered by AI

Chengdu, China - Apr 30, 2021 – SenseTime, a leading global artificial intelligence (AI) company, recently partnered with Chengdu IFS (Chengdu International Finance Square), one of China’s most tech-savvy urban commercial complexes, to create an immersive and interactive customer experience by introducing the property’s unique ARgo augmented reality (AR) navigation feature, as a way of exploring digitalized innovation for smart retail in the 5G era. Powered by SenseTime’s SenseMARS AR platform, a proprietary mixed reality product, ARgo is the first application of its kind in China to provide all-scenario navigation across all Chengdu IFS’ multiple venues, from parking lots, shops, facilities to the office buildings, hotel and serviced apartments.

SenseTime and Chengdu IFS also jointly launched a rich array of marketing functions for the shopping mall’s resident brands such as AR vouchers, new-arrival recommendations and thematic promotions and even included an exclusive visitors’ guide to I AM HERE, the famous outdoor giant panda installation. By leveraging AI and AR technologies and exploring the innovative application of all-scenario AR navigation at an urban complex, the exciting cross-industry partnership is seeking to create an innovative and premium shopping environment for customers.

As one of China’s elite urban complexes, Chengdu IFS, now owning more than 300 brands, celebrates the opening of many new stores and a selection of thematic events each year. By offering the AR directions on ARgo, the complex is allowing customers to easily explore and navigate around its 300 plus stores, while enabling brands to utilize a more interactive marketing approach. For easier use, customers can directly access the ARgo interface through Chengdu IFS’s official WeChat without having to download any smart phone app. To create an interesting AI-powered navigation journey, the smart service first helps customers identify their locations through AI vision technology, then presents “AR arrows” on the mobile phone screen to guide them to their destinations easily and quickly. The application even integrates the country’s first car parking navigation system for urban complexes – customers who drive to the mall can locate their cars with one click by entering the parking floor and location numbers, as well as paying for the parking tickets online.

SenseTime has also leveraged AR in enhancing the main attraction of Chengdu IFS -- the gigantic roof-hanging panda sculpture named “I AM HERE,”-- a must-go place for people travelling to the city known as “home of the giant panda”. Powered by the SenseMARS platform, the attraction now features an enhanced AR experience. By clicking the panda icon on the ARgo interface, customers can follow the AR paw-prints of the panda to approach the sculpture. Visitors can also follow ARgo conveniently to the Niccolo Hotel and IFS Residences serviced apartments located within Chengdu IFS. This user-friendly feature not only helps customers avoid getting lost in this large commercial complex, but also connects brands with their customers through various scenarios for targeted marketing.

In addition to the navigation features, the SenseMARS platform brings a new level of intelligence to offline retail by offering fun games for different marketing campaigns or themes to boost customer interaction. Along with the launch of ARgo, Chengdu IFS also introduced the “Ready GO!“ interactive mini-game. Users who catch over five falling balls within 30 seconds will be able to attend a lucky draw of gift cards, e-vouchers and other gifts. As users navigate themselves around the mall, the “Promotions” section on the screen displays the latest promotion information, with AR vouchers of nearby stores popping out randomly. For customers seeking a nice place to dine in, a Dianping (China’s largest platform for locally found consumer products and retail services) page appears on the navigation interface with ratings, reviews and popular dishes when they stand in front of a restaurant, revolutionizing their dining experience in a brand-new and immersive way.

Based on SenseTime’s industry-leading expertise in computer vision technology, the SenseMARS AR Platform is capable of processing large-scale 3D mapping reconstructions of the 460,000 m² mega complex. Combined with real-time localization and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technologies, it achieves centimeter-level precise positioning accuracy of over 99%. To make the AR features more accessible and convenient, ARgo can be launched via the menu of Chengdu IFS’ Wechat Service account or the kiosks inside the mall without downloading any Apps, compatible with multiple operating systems including Androids and iOS.

The application of SenseMARS AR technology in an urban complex like Chengdu IFS is a major step in SenseTime’s goal to empower city-level smart cultural tourism, bringing customers a more efficient, fun and enjoyable shopping experience while significantly enhancing the venue service and management quality. Moving forward, SenseTime will continue to explore the wider potential benefits of AI in off-line commercial scenarios, contributing to a smart and human-centric urban living space with innovative AI applications.