Representing archaeological uncertainty in cultural informatics

This thesis sets out to explore, describe, quantify, and visualise uncertainty in a cultural informatics context, with a focus on archaeological reconstructions. For quite some time, archaeologists and heritage experts have been criticising the often toorealistic appearance of three-dimensional reconstructions. They have been highlighting one of the unique features of archaeology: the information we have on our heritage will always be incomplete. This incompleteness should be reflected in digitised reconstructions of the past. This criticism is the driving force behind this thesis. The research examines archaeological theory and inferential process and provides insight into computer visualisation. It describes how these two areas, of archaeology and computer graphics, have formed a useful, but often tumultuous, relationship through the years. By examining the uncertainty background of disciplines such as GIS, medicine, and law, the thesis postulates that archaeological visualisation, in order to mature, must move towards archaeological knowledge visualisation. Three sequential areas are proposed through this thesis for the initial exploration of archaeological uncertainty: identification, quantification and modelling. The main contributions of the thesis lie in those three areas. Firstly, through the innovative design, distribution, and analysis of a questionnaire, the thesis identifies the importance of uncertainty in archaeological interpretation and discovers potential preferences among different evidence types. Secondly, the thesis uniquely analyses and evaluates, in relation to archaeological uncertainty, three different belief quantification models. The varying ways that these mathematical models work, are also evaluated through simulated experiments. Comparison of results indicates significant convergence between the models. Thirdly, a novel approach to archaeological uncertainty and evidence conflict visualisation is presented, influenced by information visualisation schemes. Lastly, suggestions for future semantic extensions to this research are presented through the design and development of new plugins to a search engine

Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

The integration of CFD and VR methods to assist auxiliary ventilation practice

The current trend towards the adoption of retreat longwall mining methods and the associated rapid development of the access drivages has exacerbated the environmental conditions experienced within these workings. The combined use of roof bolt and continuous miner systems has improved the face advance rate within rapid development drivages. In order to maintain adequate dust and gas control it is essential that the auxiliary ventilation and monitoring systems are correctly installed and maintained. The causes of many potential environmental hazards experienced within auxiliary ventilated rapid development drivages, are often attributed to a failure by the workforce and supervisory officials to maintain the correct installation, maintenance and operational standards of the ventilation and mining systems. The potential ventilation hazards encountered may include: the failure to deliver the required fresh air quantity and velocity to rapidly dilute and disperse methane gas liberated in the vicinity of the cutting face, or the failure to maintain sufficient exhaust air quantity in the vicinity of the cut to adequately capture dust produced on cutting and loading of the extracted mineral. Results of recent research studies have demonstrated that validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation models can adequately replicate examples of good and bad ventilation. CFD models may be constructed and solved to examine the relative ventilation benefits produced by alternative mining and auxiliary ventilation configurations. These models enable the practitioner to predict and visualise the velocity, pressure and contaminant fields within an auxiliary ventilated drivage. This research project has developed a prototype educational aid, which animates and visualises these airflow and pollutant dispersion patterns within a Virtual Reality (VR) model. By introducing a pollutant such as methane into the CFD models, the VR simulation highlights regions of potential methane concentration build-up to the trainee. The application also allows the user to select/investigate the environmental consequences of enacting a number of remedial actions

Interactive exploration of historic information via gesture recognition

Developers of interactive exhibits often struggle to �nd appropriate input devices that enable intuitive control, permitting the visitors to engage e�ectively with the content. Recently motion sensing input devices like the Microsoft Kinect or Panasonic D-Imager have become available enabling gesture based control of computer systems. These devices present an attractive input device for exhibits since the user can interact with their hands and they are not required to physically touch any part of the system. In this thesis we investigate techniques to enable the raw data coming from these types of devices to be used to control an interactive exhibit. Object recognition and tracking techniques are used to analyse the user's hand where movement and clicks are processed. To show the e�ectiveness of the techniques the gesture system is used to control an interactive system designed to inform the public about iconic buildings in the centre of Norwich, UK. We evaluate two methods of making selections in the test environment. At the time of experimentation the technologies were relatively new to the image processing environment. As a result of the research presented in this thesis, the techniques and methods used have been detailed and published [3] at the VSMM (Virtual Systems and Multimedia 2012) conference with the intention of further forwarding the area

The use of computer graphics and virtual reality for visual impact assessments

Changes to the visual character of the landscape can become a key issue capable of influencing the outcome of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). These changes are commonly referred to as visual impact, and it is recognised, unlike many other aspects of EIAs, that Visual Impact Assessment (VIA) relies less upon measurement than upon experience and judgement (IEATLI, 1995). Currently, there are very few quantitative techniques for the evaluation of visibility and it is mostly assessed qualitatively since it is concerned with the human appreciation of the landscape (Zewe and Koglin, 1995 and Wherrett, 2002). The main problem with qualitative techniques in assessing visual impact is that they may lead to bias due to their inherent subjectivity, hence there is a need for a more structured and consistent approach towards VIA. To reduce the subjectivity currently associated with VIAs, new quantitative techniques have been developed and existing spatial and qualitative techniques have been improved upon. The techniques developed in this research use Computer Graphics (CG) technology, including the field of Virtual Reality (VR). A quantitative method to calculate percentage view change has been developed that allows the accurate determination of the variation in any view, caused by an existing or proposed development. The method uses three dimensional (3D) CG models of an environment and software that has been developed using a scripting language from a 3D modelling software package. A new method has also been developed to create Fields of Visual Influence (FVIs) using standard 3D modelling techniques. The method improves upon the accuracy and efficiency of existing FVI techniques. A novel VR simulation technique has also been developed that attempts to reduce the subjectivity associated with simulations, by integrating quantitative and spatial techniques

Archaeological 3D GIS

Archaeological 3D GIS provides archaeologists with a guide to explore and understand the unprecedented opportunities for collecting, visualising, and analysing archaeological datasets in three dimensions. With platforms allowing archaeologists to link, query, and analyse in a virtual, georeferenced space information collected by different specialists, the book highlights how it is possible to re-think aspects of theory and practice which relate to GIS. It explores which questions can be addressed in such a new environment and how they are going to impact the way we interpret the past. By using material from several international case studies such as Pompeii, Çatalhöyük, as well as prehistoric and protohistoric sites in Southern Scandinavia, this book discusses the use of the third dimension in support of archaeological practice. This book will be essential for researchers and scholars who focus on archaeology and spatial analysis, and is designed and structured to serve as a textbook for GIS and digital archaeology courses