Enhancing cultural tourism by a mixed reality application for outdoor navigation and information browsing using immersive devices

In this paper a mixed reality application is introduced; this application runs on Microsoft Hololens and has been designed to provide information on a city scale. The application was developed to provide information about historical buildings, thus supporting cultural outdoor tourism. The huge amount of multimedia data stored in the archives of the Italian public broadcaster RAI, is used to enrich the user experience. A remote application of image and video analysis receives an image flow by the user and identifies known objects framed in the images. The user can select the object (monument/building/artwork) for which augmented contents have to be displayed (video, text audio); the user can interact with these contents by a set of defined gestures. Moreover, if the object of interest is detected and tracked by the mixed reality application, also 3D contents can be overlapped and aligned with the real world

VR Technologies in Cultural Heritage

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on VR Technologies in Cultural Heritage, VRTCH 2018, held in Brasov, Romania in May 2018. The 13 revised full papers along with the 5 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 21 submissions. The papers of this volume are organized in topical sections on data acquisition and modelling, visualization methods / audio, sensors and actuators, data management, restoration and digitization, cultural tourism

VR Technologies in Cultural Heritage

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on VR Technologies in Cultural Heritage, VRTCH 2018, held in Brasov, Romania in May 2018. The 13 revised full papers along with the 5 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 21 submissions. The papers of this volume are organized in topical sections on data acquisition and modelling, visualization methods / audio, sensors and actuators, data management, restoration and digitization, cultural tourism

Experiencing the Ancient Agora of Athens through Emotionally-led Interactive Stories with Tangibles

Οι χώροι πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς είναι δημοφιλή τουριστικά αξιοθέατα, αλλά αποτελεί σύνηθες φαινόμενο για τους επισκέπτες να φεύγουν από τους χώρους αυτούς με ένα αίσθημα απεμπλοκής λόγω του μεγάλου όγκου των πληροφοριών που παρέχονται και μη συνδεδεμένοι συναισθηματικά με την κληρονομία. Οι επιμελητές των μουσείων καταβάλλουν σημαντικές προσπάθειες για να ικανοποιήσουν τις ανάγκες των επισκεπτών τους εξερευνώντας τους τρόπους εξυπηρέτησης της εκπαιδευτικής αποστολής των θεσμικών οργάνων τους. Τα τελευταία χρόνια η ανάπτυξη έργων ψηφιακής τεχνολογίας στοχεύει στην άμβλυνση τέτοιων προβλημάτων, καθιστώντας την επίσκεψη του μουσείου πιο ελκυστική. Παρόλα αυτά, οι ψηφιακές εφαρμογές σε πολλές περιπτώσεις υποστηρίζουν προηγούμενες διδακτικές προσεγγίσεις και υπολείπονται από τον επαναπροσδιορισμό του τρόπου με τον οποίο οι επισκέπτες γνωρίζουν την πολιτιστική κληρονομιά. Αυτή η πτυχιακή εξετάζει πώς η συσχέτιση της ενσωματωμένης και απτής αλληλεπίδρασης με την αφήγηση που προκαλείται από συναισθήματα μπορεί να επηρεάσει τον τρόπο με τον οποίο οι άνθρωποι βιώνουν τους χώρους πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς και τα μουσεία. Οι ψηφιακές εμπειρίες με βάση την αφήγηση σχεδιάστηκαν και υλοποιήθηκαν τόσο για τον υπαίθριο αρχαιολογικό χώρο της Αρχαίας Αγοράς της Αθήνας όσο και για το εσωτερικό μουσείο. Η υπαίθρια εμπειρία στόχευε στη διερεύνηση της χρήσης μιας ενιαίας ιστορίας που εκτείνεται σε ένα μεγάλο ανοικτό χώρο και αξιολογήθηκε επί τόπου από μια μικρή αλλά διεπιστημονική ομάδα χρηστών. Η εσωτερική εμπειρία χρησιμοποιεί ένα απτό αντικείμενο και μια εφαρμογή που λαμβάνει γνώση της θέσης για να καθοδηγήσει την αλληλεπίδραση μέσω σύντομων ιστοριών βασισμένων στο συναίσθημα και αξιολογήθηκε από 12 χρήστες. Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας μας δίνουν πληροφορίες για τα στοιχεία των εμπειριών που τις καθιστούν αποτελεσματικές ή όχι στο πλούσιο πλαίσιο ενός πολιτιστικού περιβάλλοντος.Cultural heritage sites are popular tourist attractions, yet it is common for visitors to leave feeling disengaged by the large amount of information provided, and emotionally detached. Curators are making considerable efforts to cater to their visitors’ needs while exploring ways to serve their institutions’ educational mission. Nowadays, the development of digital technology projects aims to alleviate such problems, making the museum visit more engaging. However, even so, digital applications in many cases sustain earlier didactic approaches and fall short from significantly redefining the way that visitors experience cultural heritage. This thesis examines how the association of embodied and tangible interaction with emotion-driven storytelling can affect the way people experience cultural heritage sites and museums. Digital storytelling experiences were designed and implemented for both the outdoor archeological site of the Ancient Agora of Athens and its indoor museum. The outdoor experience aimed at exploring the use of a single story spanning across a large open space and was evaluated on site by a small but multidisciplinary user group. The indoor experience makes use of a custom tangible object and of a location-aware application to guide interaction through short emotionally-led stories, and was evaluated by 12 users. Our findings provide insights on those elements of the experiences that make them effective or not in the rich context of a cultural setting

Virtual Guidance using Mixed Reality in Historical Places and Museums

Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the most disruptive technologies that shows potential in many application domains, particularly in the tourism and cultural heritage sector. MR using the latest headsets with the highest capabilities introduces a new visual platform that can change people’s visual experience. This thesis introduces a HoloLens-based mixed reality guidance system for museums and historical places. This new guidance form considers the inclusiveness of the necessary and optimised functionalities, visual and audio guiding abilities, essential roles of a guide, and the related social interactions in the real-time. A mixed reality guide, dubbed ‘MuseumEye’ was designed and developed for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to overcome challenges currently facing the museum, e.g. lack of guiding methods, limited information signposted on the exhibits, lack of visitor engagement resulting in less time spent in the museum compared to other museums with similar capacity and significance. These problems motivated the researcher to conduct an exploratory study to investigate the museum environment and guiding methods by interviewing 10 participants and observing 20 visitors. ‘MuseumEye’ was built based on a literature review of immersive systems in museums and the findings of an exploratory study that reveals visitor behaviours and the nature of guidance in the museum. This project increased levels of engagement and the length of time visitors spend in museums, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in particular, using the mixed reality technology that provides visitors with additional visual, audio information and computer-generated images at various levels of details and via different media. This research introduces the guidelines of designing immersive reality guide applications using the techniques of spatial mapping, designing the multimedia and UI, and designing interactions for exploratory purposes. The main contributions of this study include various theoretical contributions: 1) creating a new form of guidance that enhances the museum experience through developing a mixed reality system; 2) a theoretical framework that assesses mixed reality guidance systems in terms of perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, interactivity, the roles of a guide and the likelihood of future use; 3) the Ambient Information Visualisation Concept for increasing visitor engagement through better presenting information and enhancing communication and interaction between visitors and exhibits; and a practical contribution in creating a mixed reality guidance system that reshapes the museum space, enhances visitors’ experience and significantly increases the length of time they spend in the museum. The evaluation comprised of quantitative surveys (171 participants and 9 experts) and qualitative observation (51 participants) using MuseumEye in their tours. The results showed positive responses for all measured aspects and compares these to similar studies. The observation results showed that visitors who use MuseumEye spent four times the duration visitors spent without guides or with human guides in front of exhibited items. The quantitative results showed significant correlations between the measured constructs (perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, multimedia and UI, interactivity) and the likelihood of future use when the roles of guide mediate the relations. Moreover, the ‘perceived guidance’ is the most influential construct on the likelihood of future use of MuseumEye. The results also revealed a high likelihood of future use, which ensures the sustainability of adopting mixed reality technology in museums. This thesis shows the potential of mixed reality guides in the museum sector that reshape the museum space and offers endless possibilities for museums and heritage sites

Virtual Guidance using Mixed Reality in Historical Places and Museums

Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the most disruptive technologies that shows potential in many application domains, particularly in the tourism and cultural heritage sector. MR using the latest headsets with the highest capabilities introduces a new visual platform that can change people’s visual experience. This thesis introduces a HoloLens-based mixed reality guidance system for museums and historical places. This new guidance form considers the inclusiveness of the necessary and optimised functionalities, visual and audio guiding abilities, essential roles of a guide, and the related social interactions in the real-time. A mixed reality guide, dubbed ‘MuseumEye’ was designed and developed for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to overcome challenges currently facing the museum, e.g. lack of guiding methods, limited information signposted on the exhibits, lack of visitor engagement resulting in less time spent in the museum compared to other museums with similar capacity and significance. These problems motivated the researcher to conduct an exploratory study to investigate the museum environment and guiding methods by interviewing 10 participants and observing 20 visitors. ‘MuseumEye’ was built based on a literature review of immersive systems in museums and the findings of an exploratory study that reveals visitor behaviours and the nature of guidance in the museum. This project increased levels of engagement and the length of time visitors spend in museums, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in particular, using the mixed reality technology that provides visitors with additional visual, audio information and computer-generated images at various levels of details and via different media. This research introduces the guidelines of designing immersive reality guide applications using the techniques of spatial mapping, designing the multimedia and UI, and designing interactions for exploratory purposes. The main contributions of this study include various theoretical contributions: 1) creating a new form of guidance that enhances the museum experience through developing a mixed reality system; 2) a theoretical framework that assesses mixed reality guidance systems in terms of perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, interactivity, the roles of a guide and the likelihood of future use; 3) the Ambient Information Visualisation Concept for increasing visitor engagement through better presenting information and enhancing communication and interaction between visitors and exhibits; and a practical contribution in creating a mixed reality guidance system that reshapes the museum space, enhances visitors’ experience and significantly increases the length of time they spend in the museum. The evaluation comprised of quantitative surveys (171 participants and 9 experts) and qualitative observation (51 participants) using MuseumEye in their tours. The results showed positive responses for all measured aspects and compares these to similar studies. The observation results showed that visitors who use MuseumEye spent four times the duration visitors spent without guides or with human guides in front of exhibited items. The quantitative results showed significant correlations between the measured constructs (perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, multimedia and UI, interactivity) and the likelihood of future use when the roles of guide mediate the relations. Moreover, the ‘perceived guidance’ is the most influential construct on the likelihood of future use of MuseumEye. The results also revealed a high likelihood of future use, which ensures the sustainability of adopting mixed reality technology in museums. This thesis shows the potential of mixed reality guides in the museum sector that reshape the museum space and offers endless possibilities for museums and heritage sites

Enhancing the museum experience with a sustainable solution based on contextual information obtained from an on-line analysis of users’ behaviour

Human computer interaction has evolved in the last years in order to enhance users’ experiences and provide more intuitive and usable systems. A major leap through in this scenario is obtained by embedding, in the physical environment, sensors capable of detecting and processing users’ context (position, pose, gaze, ...). Feeded by the so collected information flows, user interface paradigms may shift from stereotyped gestures on physical devices, to more direct and intuitive ones that reduce the semantic gap between the action and the corresponding system reaction or even anticipate the user’s needs, thus limiting the overall learning effort and increasing user satisfaction. In order to make this process effective, the context of the user (i.e. where s/he is, what is s/he doing, who s/he is, what are her/his preferences and also actual perception and needs) must be properly understood. While collecting data on some aspects can be easy, interpreting them all in a meaningful way in order to improve the overall user experience is much harder. This is more evident when we consider informal learning environments like museums, i.e. places that are designed to elicit visitor response towards the artifacts on display and the cultural themes proposed. In such a situation, in fact, the system should adapt to the attention paid by the user choosing the appropriate content for the user’s purposes, presenting an intuitive interface to navigate it. My research goal is focused on collecting, in a simple,unobtrusive, and sustainable way, contextual information about the visitors with the purpose of creating more engaging and personalized experiences