New App From Tulsa Developer Gives Unique Self-Guided Tour Of Greenwood

A Tulsa app developer is using cutting edge technology to retell the story of the historic Greenwood District.

The new Greenwood Rising XR app is now available. 

Phil Armstrong, with the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, said instead of staying stuck in the embarrassment and ‘what ifs’ and the ‘why nots,’ let us do something about it. 

There are parts of Tulsa’s past that community members are still piecing together.  

"We have people who are families and descendants that are looking at the fact that this legacy that they have wasn't passed down to them. It was capped off," Armstrong said.  

Together, the Centennial Commission, COX Communications, and app developer K.J. Jackson just launched the Greenwood Rising XR app.

The app takes people on a 45-minute self-guided tour through Greenwood. 

"At each stop along the journey, you're going to be able to do something that involves you in the process of restoration and involves you in the process of healing," Jackson said.  

People can scan a QR code, move their phone around, and see life size buildings that once stood there like the Dreamland Center before the Race Massacre devastated Greenwood.

The app takes history out of a textbook and brings it to life with pictures and narration.  

“Our story is what makes us, and when I say us, I mean us as the United States," Jackson said.  

At one point you will find an open safe, the same safe that appears in the corner of many historical photos. 

"You're able to see items on the ground that were looted, and you're going to be able to touch those items and put them back into the safe,” Jackson said.  

You can pick up the burned, broken bricks and rebuild.

Armstrong knows augmented reality will not replace the past, but he believes it does pave the path for a more promising future in Tulsa. 

"I am a part of the generation that can help heal and put things back and try to restore," Armstrong said.  

This is just the first phase of the app. Next it will be expanded to include a tour along the "Pathway of Hope.”