Portyl brings ancient Rome to life with AR

Travel tech company Histoury has launched Portyl, an app that enhances heritage tourism experience with immersive augmented reality (AR).

Powered by the Unity game engine and Niantic Spatial technology, Portyl uses mobile devices to deliver historical reconstructions for users. Niantic, the developer behind the hit mobile game Pokémon Go, provides the location-based platform that anchors these reconstructions to real-world sites.

Portyl is offering immersive experiences at iconic Roman landmarks, such as the Pantheon, Largo di Torre Argentina, Colosseum district, Forum of Trajan, Theatre of Marcellus, and Temple of Hadrian.

History unfolds

With Portyl, users can explore Rome’s landmarks as they once stood centuries ago. Standing before the Pantheon, the app reveals a scene filled with citizens, merchants, and priests as it might have appeared nearly 2,000 years ago.

At Largo di Torre Argentina, it reconstructs the four temples not as ruins, but as active places of worship between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC. At the Arch of Constantine, Roman soldiers appear in a triumphal procession in front of the Colosseum, while the Forum of Trajan comes to life with senators and citizens moving through the grand palazzo. Walking through the Jewish Ghetto, users are transported to the Porticus of Ottavia and, just behind it, the Theatre of Marcellus as it once stood.

“When people young and old experience Portyl, you can see the magic in their eyes and hear it in their voices,” says Histoury CEO Todd Porter. “Instead of looking at ruins and trying to imagine what they looked like, Portyl overlays the past over the present with incredible accuracy and stunning AAA graphics. For the tourism industry, Portyl is a glimpse into the future – immersive, interactive, and unforgettable.”

Beyond the audio guide

Unlike site-specific apps or passive museum audio tours, Portyl is a unified platform that provides immersive experiences for historic locations across the globe. Travelers can access cinematic 3D content for €20 ticket per package via the app.

Key features of Portyl include:

• Hollywood quality CGI reconstructions of ancient structures, peoples, landmarks and vistas.
• Geospatial precision that locks the virtual world to the physical one – walk the reconstructed ruins while viewing the past unfold.
• The Saige, an AI personal historian tailored to each location, can plan tours and answer questions.
• Over 60 languages and voice interaction.
• Freeform “Espresso” tours, enabling visitors to see and hear what they are interested in.

Portyl meets the heritage tourism moment

Portyl launches into a fast-growing market: heritage travel is valued at $2-billion and AR tourism is expected to grow at a 30% CAGR over the next decade. To better understand today’s travellers as the market evolves, History commissioned a third-party survey, revealing major pain points and a significant opportunity for innovation.

The findings include:

• 49.9% of tourists report sites are too crowded.
• 35.1% say traditional tours move too quickly to appreciate the site.
• 26.1% are overwhelmed with too much information at once.
• 21.4% struggle to visualise what the site originally looked like.
• 72.6% say they would be more likely to visit historical sites if technology made them more engaging.

Nearly 42% of travellers said they would visit significantly more sites on a trip if those experiences were interactive and immersive.

“Heritage tourism is at a tipping point,” says Porter. “Travelers don’t just want facts – they want connection. They want what we call Theastoric – a mix of theatre and history. Portyl delivers that in a way no tour book or signage ever could. Instead of trying to picture what the Forum looked like, you can simply hold up your phone and see it in all its splendour.”

Recreating history

Niantic Spatial’s Visual Positioning System (VPS) and World Positioning System (WPS) technology provide geospatial precision.

Joe Gabriel, head of customer and developer success at Niantic Spatial, says: “We believe Portyl has the potential to be a killer app for AR tourism, and we’re inspired to see Histoury using Niantic Spatial technology for this impactful new experience.

“Our Visual Positioning System makes sure every immersive experience is anchored precisely and persistently across each historical location with centimetre level accuracy. It’s a powerful example of how spatial intelligence is reshaping the way people and digital systems understand and engage with our physical world.”

Download

Portyl is available for download on both the App Store and Google Play. Throughout June, users can qualify for free tickets to select historical sites by using the app. No headset is required.

* Visit the Portyl website here.