Mobile exploration of medieval St Andrews

Saint Andrews is a town with a rich history. It was the religious centre of Scotland for close to a millennium. The Cathedral was strongly associated with the wars of Independence and Robert the Bruce. The castle was the scene of pivotal revolt leading to the reformation and hosted the first Scottish protestant congregation. St Salvators Chapel was the religious centre of Scotland’s first University. This paper presents work which explores using mobile technologies to support investigation, learning and appreciation of the past. It builds on tradition and world class scholarship into the history of this important town and makes them available to school students, researchers and tourists using mobile technologies. From text based quests, through mobile apps to location aware stereoscopic 3D experiences the gamut of available commodity and emerging hardware is used to enable the past to be explored in new ways.Preprin

CLOUD-TO-BIM-TO-VR: AN OPERATIVE APPROACH FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF INTERACTIVE AND INFORMATION MODELS FOR THE CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract. This paper describes the results of a research that aimed to focus on a possible approach in the knowledge, representation and dissemination of the Cultural Heritage through CLOUD-to-BIM-to-VR application processes. Starting from reality-based surveys of the current state and information modelling in BIM platforms, the experimentation conducted involved the construction of a VR fruition system for the Simón Ruiz Hospital in Medina del Campo (Valladolid, Spain). An application for mobile devices was therefore designed to describe the artifact and the information acquired - or processed - during the various research phases according to alternative methods and completely independent from the software that generated them. The fruition system is completed with cardboard type supports, for stereoscopic viewing, and controller, to allow the user to navigate in the represented scene and activate the information hotspots that implement the contents of the App.Specifically, the results presented here relate to the operational sequences and products obtained in the organization and programming of the App, structured to allow a multidimensional and multimodal fruition path. The characteristics that connote it, therefore, are related to the setting of incremental levels of knowledge, different by type of content displayed – historical, descriptive, technical, etc. –, form in which it is presented – spherical and photographic images, point cloud, geometric and informative model, textual descriptions, etc. – and integration of hotspots for extend the informative and descriptive content

Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts. EVA 2012 Florence

The key aim of this Event is to provide a forum for the user, supplier and scientific research communities to meet and exchange experiences, ideas and plans in the wide area of Culture & Technology. Participants receive up to date news on new EC and international arts computing & telecommunications initiatives as well as on Projects in the visual arts field, in archaeology and history. Working Groups and new Projects are promoted. Scientific and technical demonstrations are presented

Enhancing BIM Methodology with VR Technology

Building information modeling (BIM) is defined as the process of generating, storing, managing, exchanging, and sharing building information. In the construction industry, the processes and technologies that support BIM are constantly evolving, making the BIM even more attractive. A current topic that requires attention is the integration of BIM with virtual reality (VR) where the user visualizes a virtual world and can interact with it. By adding VR, the BIM solution can address retrieving and presenting information and increasing efficiency on communication and problem solving in an interactive and collaborative project. The objective of this chapter is to report the improvement of BIM uses with the addition of interactive capacities allowed by VR technology. A bibliographic and software research was made to support the study

Analysis of Visualisation and Interaction Tools Authors

This document provides an in-depth analysis of visualization and interaction tools employed in the context of Virtual Museum. This analysis is required to identify and design the tools and the different components that will be part of the Common Implementation Framework (CIF). The CIF will be the base of the web-based services and tools to support the development of Virtual Museums with particular attention to online Virtual Museum.The main goal is to provide to the stakeholders and developers an useful platform to support and help them in the development of their projects, despite the nature of the project itself. The design of the Common Implementation Framework (CIF) is based on an analysis of the typical workflow ofthe V-MUST partners and their perceived limitations of current technologies. This document is based also on the results of the V-MUST technical questionnaire (presented in the Deliverable 4.1). Based on these two source of information, we have selected some important tools (mainly visualization tools) and services and we elaborate some first guidelines and ideas for the design and development of the CIF, that shall provide a technological foundation for the V-MUST Platform, together with the V-MUST repository/repositories and the additional services defined in the WP4. Two state of the art reports, one about user interface design and another one about visualization technologies have been also provided in this document

Rapid Prototyping for Virtual Environments

Development of Virtual Environment (VE) applications is challenging where application developers are required to have expertise in the target VE technologies along with the problem domain expertise. New VE technologies impose a significant learning curve to even the most experienced VE developer. The proposed solution relies on synthesis to automate the migration of a VE application to a new unfamiliar VE platform/technology. To solve the problem, the Common Scene Definition Framework (CSDF) is developed, that serves as a superset/model representation of the target virtual world. Input modules are developed to populate the framework with the capabilities of the virtual world imported from VRML 2.0 and X3D formats. The synthesis capability is built into the framework to synthesize the virtual world into a subset of VRML 2.0, VRML 1.0, X3D, Java3D, JavaFX, JavaME, and OpenGL technologies, which may reside on different platforms. Interfaces are designed to keep the framework extensible to different and new VE formats/technologies. The framework demonstrated the ability to quickly synthesize a working prototype of the input virtual environment in different VE formats

MIRACLE Handbook : Guidelines for Mixed Reality Applications for Culture and Learning Experiences

Siirretty Doriast

Innovative Approaches to 3D GIS Modeling for Volumetric and Geoprocessing Applications in Subsurface Infrastructures in a Virtual Immersive Environment

As subsurface features remain largely ‘out of sight, out of mind’, this has led to challenges when dealing with underground space and infrastructures and especially so for those working in GIS. Since subsurface infrastructure plays a major role in supporting the needs of modern society, groups such as city planners and utility companies and decision makers are looking for an ‘holistic’ approach where the sustainable use of underground space is as important as above ground space. For such planning and management, it is crucial to examine subsurface data in a form that is amenable to 3D mapping and that can be used for increasingly sophisticated 3D modeling. The subsurface referred to in this study focuses particularly on examples of both shallow and deep underground infrastructures. In the case of shallow underground infrastructures mostly two-dimensional maps are used in the management and planning of these features. Depth is a very critical component of underground infrastructures that is difficult to represent in a 2D map and for this reason these are best studied in three-dimensional space. In this research, the capability of 3D GIS technology and immersive geography are explored for the storage, management, analysis, and visualization of shallow and deep subsurface features

TechNews digests: Jan - Nov 2009

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month