High fidelity walkthroughs in archaeology sites

Comunicação apresentada no 6th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (VAST 2005), Pisa, Italy, 8-11 Novembro 2005.Fast and affordable computing systems currently support walkthroughs into virtual reconstructed sites, with fast frame rate generation of synthetic images. However, archaeologists still complain about the lack of realism in these interactive tours, mainly due to the false ambient illumination. Accurate visualizations require physically based global illumination models to render the scenes, which are computationally too demanding. Faster systems and novel rendering techniques are required: current clusters provide a feasible and affordable path towards these goals, and we developed a framework to support smooth virtual walkthroughs, using progressive rendering to converge to high fidelity images whenever computing power surplus is available. This framework exploits spatial and temporal coherence among successive frames, serving multiple clients that share and interact with the same virtual model, while maintaining each its own view of the model. It is based on a three-tier architecture: the outer layer embodies light-weight visualization clients, which perform all the user interactions and display the final images using the available graphics hardware; the inner layer is a parallel version of a physically based ray tracer running on a cluster of off-the-shelf PCs; in the middle layer lies the shading management agent (SMA), which monitors the clients' states, supplies each with properly shaded 3D points, maintains a cache of previously rendered geometry and requests relevant shading samples to the parallel renderer, whenever required. A prototype of a high fidelity walkthrough in the archaeologic virtual model of the roman town of Bracara Augusta was developed, and the current evaluation tests aimed to measure the performance improvements due to the use of SMA caches and associated parallel rendering capabilities. Preliminary results show that interactive frame rates are sustainable and the system is highly responsive.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) - POSI/CHS/42041/2001

Enhancing Access at the Tower of London

The Tower of London is a 1000-year-old fortress with many access challenges for D/deaf and disabled visitors. The purpose of this project was to enhance access through non-traditional means using digital technologies. We performed background research, distributed a survey, and conducted accompanied tours to help us determine the best technologies to increase access. From our findings we recommend 3D printed models, Signly, and Virtual Reality be implemented at the Tower. The implementation of these recommended technologies at the Tower of London would greatly improve accessibility for D/deaf and disabled individuals

Museums and the Metaverse: Emerging Technologies to Promote Inclusivity and Engagement

Over the past two decades, museums have increasingly sought to build connections with the community and increase inclusivity of visitors. At the same time, emerging technologies, such as extended reality (XR) and virtual museums (VM) are increasingly adopted to engage with different generational expectations but also for the purposes of supporting inclusivity and neurodiverse populations. First such technologies were adopted to augment exhibitions in the physical museum space for edutainment. Since then, XR has expanded from room-size environments (CAVEs) and augmented exhibitions to the creation of entire virtual museums, such as The Museum of Pure Form and The Virtual Museum of Sculpture. Digital twins of museums are increasingly common, along with UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Such virtual experiences can be leveraged to prepare neurodiverse visitors prior to visiting a museum. This chapter will outline how existing approaches to social stories and sensory maps may be combined with XR experiences to support neurodiverse visitors and their families. While onsite, immersive technologies can be used both for engagement and to provide accommodations for greater inclusivity and diversity

Managing archaeological excavations with an Archeaological Information System (SIDGEIPA)

Se analizan diferentes aspectos del proceso que hemos seguido para desarrollar e implementar un software completamente nuevo para gestionar excavaciones arqueológicas. El software llamado SIDGEIPA (Sistema Distribuido para la Gestión Integrada de excavaciones arqueológicas) incluye diferentes módulos que permiten a los usuarios almacenar datos arqueológicos de diferentes fuentes (excavaciones, prospecciones, literatura científica, colecciones de museos ...) y procesarlos automáticamente para simplificar la investigación arqueológica. Técnicamente, Sidgeipa está construido en código Java, utilizando Postgres como SGBD y con las bibliotecas VTK y GEF para visualizar los datos. La arquitectura cliente-servidor se sustenta en las plataformas Linux y MacOS X. SIDGEIPA se está utilizando para gestionar varias excavaciones en la Península Ibérica desde los primeros asentamientos agrícolas como el del Mas D’Is (Penàguila, Alicante) hasta el Oppidum de la Edad del Hierro del Tos Pelat (Montcada, Valencia). El Sistema de Información Arqueológica (SIA) SIDGEIPA ha sido desarrollado con la idea de automatizar la construcción del diagrama estratigráfico (matriz de Harris) y para modelar reconstrucciones 3D. Tanto los aspectos técnicos como las cuestiones arqueológicas serán presentados y discutidos. Se expondrán ejemplos de la funcionalidad del software, incluidos sistemas de información geográfica, diseño asistido por computadora y gestión de bases de datos. El desarrollo del software ha sido posible gracias a la ayuda financiera del programa FEDER de la Unión Europea como consecuencia de la plena integración de dos proyectos de investigación: el Parque Arqueológico Rural (PAR) que se implementó en los valles de l'Alcoià-El Comtat (Alacant, España) y el Sistema Distribuido para Gestión integral de parques arqueológicos (SIDGEIPA).I discuss different aspects of the process we have followed to develop and implement a completely new software to manage archaeological excavations. The software named SIDGEIPA (Distributed System for Integrated Management of Archaeological excavations) includes different modules allowing users to store archaeological data from different sources (excavation, survey, scientific literature, museum collections...) and to process them automatically in order to simplify archaeological research. Technically Sidgeipa is built in Java code, using Postgres as DBMS and with VTK and GEF libraries to visualize the data. The client -server architectures is sustained by Linux and MacOS X platorms. SIDGEIPA is being used to manage several excavations in the Iberian Peninsula from first agriculturalists sites like the Mas D’Is settlement (Penàguila, Alicante) to the Iron Age Oppidum of Tos Pelat (Montcada, Valencia). The Archaeological Information System (AIS) SIDGEIPA has been developed in the framework of the Harris Matrix and to model 3D reconstructions. Both, technical aspects and archaeological questions will be presented and discussed. Examples of the software functionality will be exposed including Geographical Information Systems, Computes Assisted Design and database management. Development of the software have been possible to financial aid from the FEDER program of the European Union being consequence of the full integration of two research projects the Rural Archaeological Park implemented in the Alcoia-El Comtat valleys (Alacant, Spain) and the Distributed System for Integral Management of Archaeological Parks

Communicating the Past in the Digital Age: Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Methods in Teaching and Learning in Archaeology (12-13 October 2018)

Recent developments in the field of archaeology are not only progressing archaeological fieldwork but also changing the way we practise and present archaeology today. As these digital technologies are being used more and more every day on excavations or in museums, this also means that we must change the way we approach teaching and communicating archaeology as a discipline. This volume presents the outcome of a two-day international symposium on digital methods in teaching and learning in archaeology held at the University of Cologne in October 2018. Specialists from around the world share their views on the newest developments in the field of archaeology and the way we teach these with the help of archaeogaming, augmented and virtual reality, 3D reconstruction and many more

Digital modes of interpretation of Pictish sculpture

Funding: Scottish Funding Council.Cultural heritage is no longer something that can only be experienced in a museum exhibition. Digital tools have facilitated the distribution of material relating to artefacts, both in its representation and in presenting its context. This paper describes how digital modelling techniques can be synthesised with 3D scanning to digitally restore artefacts and create authentic replicas of their original states. The digital artefacts can then be used to assist the process of interpreting these artefacts in diverse forms, both in the museum and outside the museum. The study looks at Pictish sculpture as a case-study, restoring 3D models of two stones, and creating varying opportunities for their interpretation. As part of this study, new interactive tools, a virtual reality environment, and a virtual tour are built to assist immersive interpretation of the Pictish sculpture. The application of these digitised objects serves as an opportunity for informal learning. These applications were evaluated during a drop-in session. Findings show that all participants enjoyed the immersive mode of learning with 89% also showing a willingness to learn more about the topic.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe