Published on: 2026-10-08
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
A new mobile application “Moscow Zoo AR” has become available for download, which will help visitors get acquainted with its inhabitants. It was developed by the capital’s Department of Information Technology together with Department of Culture in the city of Moscow. With the help of augmented reality technology, the application allows you to get acquainted with the panda, the Pallas’s cat, and the snow leopard, as well as to create a convenient route between their enclosures and provides interactive educational material about the animals’ habits. The capabilities of the new application were demonstrated at the Moscow Government’s booth during the forum. “Digital Solutions”, which takes place in the capital from October 6 to 10.
“Now visitors to the Moscow Zoo can open the app, recreate an animal in augmented reality, and observe its walks, games, rest, and meals. The behavior scenarios in AR were developed together with zoo zoologists, and 3D designers conveyed the features of the animals’ appearance and movements. In addition, the app has an off-zoo mode — it can be used anywhere. Currently, in augmented reality mode, three of the zoo’s most popular residents with visitors are available, and their number will be increased in the future,” said the press service of the Moscow Department of Information Technologies.
“Moscow Zoo AR” can be downloaded on a smartphone from official app stores by searching for its name or by following link. A QR code is also placed at the main entrance to the zoo and on its territory, scanning which you can start using the application. On devices with the Android operating system, the user will be redirected to the page to download it, while on an iPhone the AR scene will open immediately — without the need to pre-install the application.
The user will be prompted to sequentially choose one of three animals (a panda, a Pallas’s cat, or a snow leopard) and to plan a route to the enclosures of each.
The application will ask for access to the mobile device’s camera, as well as to go through a brief tutorial that will help you better understand its functions. After that, you need to point the smartphone camera at a horizontal surface to scan it, choose the location to place the animal and one of the AR behavior scenarios. For example, the panda can chew bamboo, sleep, walk, or play. The Pallas’s cat can eat, lie on a shelf, walk, or hide in a house. The snow leopard can also eat or walk, hide in the indoor enclosure, groom itself, or sleep. Once all inputs are specified, the chosen AR scenario will begin playing on the smartphone screen. For example, a Pallas’s cat lying on a shelf or a panda chewing bamboo will appear at the designated spot. Their images in AR reality are as close as possible to natural portraits and movements. To achieve this, zoo staff provided the developers with datasets of video recordings of the animals’ behavior in the enclosures. Based on this data, designers created 3D models with the most accurate and realistic movements.
“The Moscow Zoo is pleased to support projects that make visits to us more convenient and interesting, and also help develop modern technologies. We are confident that digital solutions such as an augmented reality app help visitors get closer to the animals and learn more about them. Of course, virtual animals will never replace interaction with living ones, but they make getting acquainted with them more engaging and also attract the attention of young people,” noted Svetlana Akulova, General Director of the Moscow Zoo.
By getting acquainted with the animal, the app’s progress bar in the upper corner of the screen will fill up to 25 percent. After that, you can move on to the educational guide — switch to the “Facts” tab and learn about the habits, dietary features, and even the fur of the zoo inhabitant on special cards. For example, find out whether a panda is a bear or a raccoon, whether a manul can be domesticated, and why it is very difficult to encounter an irbis in the wild. After studying all the facts, the progress bar fills up to 75 percent.
Next, the user is offered to take a test — to do this, you need to press the corresponding button and answer several questions on the studied material. If you fail to answer each of them correctly, you can restart the series. When the test is successfully completed, the progress bar will fill up to 100 percent. Depending on the chosen animal, the user will be assigned a final status — you can become an honorary expert of the manul, a guardian of snowy peaks, or the chief panda expert, and also receive a set of bright stickers in Telegram and Max. And to take a photo with the AR animal, you need to press the “Take a photo” button, which will appear at the bottom of the screen after passing the test.
Next, the visitor can proceed to the next enclosure — the app precisely determines the user’s location and constructs a route. The way the path is displayed on the screen can be chosen — 3D tracks that will lead to the point, or a 2D route, which will also help not to get lost among the many enclosures. VPS navigation determines the smartphone’s location using the camera and algorithms. computer vision and does not depend on the satellite signal.
The app is also available outside the zoo. To do this, after launching it, you need to click the “I’m not at the zoo” button. In this case, the entire functionality will be available except navigation — you can start different AR animal behavior scenarios, learn interesting facts about them, take tests, and receive a set of colorful stickers.
Creation, development, and operation of e-government infrastructure, including the provision of mass socially significant services, as well as other services and digital forms, correspond to the objectives of the national project “Data Economy and Digital Transformation of the State” and the regional project of the city of Moscow “Digital Public Administration.” More information about the national projects and the capital’s contribution can be found at special page.
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