MIAMI – Miami's Wynwood neighborhood is well-known for its amazing murals, but now they are going high-tech.
Walking through Wynwood and looking at all the artwork and murals is pretty appealing. But what if you could do that and learn a little something at the same time? Well, that is what one group has done with a piece of artwork and a new app.
On the surface, the mural is impressive in its own right.
But for the mural that stands 15 feet high and wraps around a building, there is so much more than meets the eye.
Just walking down Northwest Third Avenue near 25th Street, you'll notice the colorful Florida wildlife.
An alligator, a coyote, a manatee and more than a dozen other animals near extinction or symbolic to our state are featured in the mural.
"One hundred and fifty to 200 species are going extinct every day, and it is at a rate which is 1,000 times than what is natural," said Linda Cheung, founder of Before It’s Too Late.
Cheung hopes the mural will be the avenue needed to raise environmental awareness.
The mural, with its colors, shapes and animals, clearly tells its own story, but it's when you pull up the app they are developing that it immerses you in the environment.
"People can actually scan each of these animals and species and explore the mural, and it would actually bring to life a 3D environment with video education about each of these species," Cheung said.
People will be able to learn more about alligators and the invasive Burmese python, to name a few.
"It is not just a pretty picture. There is a deep message that we are trying to convey. I hope that they get that," artist Reinier Gamboa said.
While Gamboa conveyed his message with a paintbrush, it is Juan Carlos Gallo whose software he hopes will reach everyone who passes by the Wynwood wall.
"It shows the power of art and to convey those messages that might be difficult, and that is why we are doing this," Gallo said.
Gallo is still developing the app and working to make adjustments so the software can recognize the images both during the day and at night.
They hope to have the app completed in the next few days.