Arboretum

Arboretum is a mixed reality chat app that bridges the digital and natural worlds, transforming the city of Zurich into a living network of conversations with its trees. 80,000 trees of Zurich become an interactive entities, blending real-world data with imaginative storytelling. Powered by AI and enriched by scientific and local insights, Arboretum invites users to experience the urban landscape in a new way—where nature speaks back, and every tree has a story to tell. It's a digital art experience that redefines our connection to the environment, turning Zurich's greenery into a vibrant tapestry of dialogue and discovery.

Arboretum is grounded in real-world data from Zurich's Open Data Platform, notably the tree database. Current environment data like local weather data is used to back realtime questions about the environment. A large language model is used for dialogue, to give each tree a unique voice. The map is rendered with Mapbox and OpenStreetMap data, stripped from human labels like road names and colored to highlight natural features of the city.

About the author

Max Vogler is a creative technologist driven by a deep commitment to addressing climate change. With over a decade of experience in software engineering—spanning cutting-edge AI startups to global Fortune 500 companies—he combines technical expertise, creative innovation, and a passion for sustainability in all his work.

Clover Labs is an award-winning creative tech lab based in Zurich, building live experiences, games, and art installations with interactive generative AI.