La ricostruzione virtuale del paesaggio di Torre Guaceto (Brindisi, Italia)

This paper describes the design and development of mobile applications that use Augmented Reality technology (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to improve the dissemination of the archaeological evidence found at the State Nature Reserve and Protected Marine Area of Torre Guaceto (Brindisi); the finds are part of the Bronze Age fortified settlement of Scogli di Apani. In more general terms, they also help in understanding the natural and anthropic character of its coastal territory during the second millennium B.C.La pubblicazione descrive la progettazione e lo sviluppo di applicazioni per dispositivi mobili che sfruttano le tecnologie della Realtà Aumentata (AR) e della Realtà Virtuale( VR) finalizzate a migliorare la divulgazione e la comprensione delle evidenze archeologiche presenti presso la Riserva Naturale dello Stato e Area Marina Protetta di Torre Guaceto (Brindisi), facenti parte dell’insediamento fortificato dell’età del Bronzo di Scogli di Apani e, più in generale, indirizzate alla conoscenza dei caratteri naturali e antropici del suo territorio costiero nel corso del II millennio a.C

Integrazione di building information modeling e realtà aumentata per migliorare l’indagine di edifici storici

This paper describes an experimental system to support investigation of historical buildings using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Augmented Reality (AR). The system requires the use of an off-line software to build the BIM representation and defines a method to integrate diagnostic data into BIM. The system offers access to such information during site investigation using AR glasses supported by marker and marker-less technologies. The main innovation is the possibility to contextualize through AR not only existing BIM properties but also results from non-invasive tools. User evaluations show how the use of the system may enhance the perception of engineers during the investigation process.Questa pubblicazione descrive un sistema sperimentale per supportare l’indagine di edifici storici utilizzando Building Information Modeling (BIM) e Realtà Aumentata (AR). Il sistema richiede l’utilizzo di software off-line per realizzare la rappresentazione BIM e definisce un metodo per integrare dati diagnostici in BIM. Il sistema offre accesso a tali dati durante l’indagine del sito usando occhiali AR supportati dalle tecnologie marker e marker-less. L’innovazione principale del sistema è la possibilità di contestualizzare attraverso AR non solo le proprietà BIM esistenti ma anche dati da strumenti non-invasivi. Valutazioni utente mostrano come l’utilizzo del sistema possa migliorare la percezione degli ingegneri durante il processo di indagine

The underwater wonderland of ancient Puglia

The projects Puglia Seascapes - looking at Apulia from an underwater perspective – and UnderwaterMuse, Immersive Underwater Museum Experience for a wider inclusion, both coordinated by Puglia Region, aim to make a significant contribution to better understanding of the underwater cultural heritage; the study cases concern different sites in the Marine Protected Areas of Porto Cesareo and Torre Guaceto: a cargo of columns from Evia island and another cargo of amphoras scattered in the shallow waters of Torre Chianca (Porto Cesareo, Lecce) and the remains of a Late Antique cargo (V-VI century AD) found in the waters of Torre Guaceto (Brindisi). The interpretation of the archaeological and geoarchaological data about the sites, their formation process and the coastal landscape evolution, as well as the 3D models obtained through photogrammetry techniques based on SfM (Structure from Motion) and underwater 360° and 5K videos, allowed us to develope a methodological and technological protocol based on the use of a software (App), i.e. Puglia Seascapes VR. It provides suggestive scenarios through advanced 3D modeling and animation techniques and results in interactive videos shoot that reconstruct and above all narrate in an emotional way the last journey of the ship in the ancient seascape, deeply different from the current, and the formation of underwater context. Moreover, the application of immersive techniques accessible from a single VR application for wearable devices allows the large public to discover new environments and the scholars to face to a new approach for rewriting the history of ancient Italy

Augmented Reality, Embodied Cognition and Learning

Augmented Reality allows a more detailed understanding of a learning object. Aim of this work was to analyse embodied cognition of the learning object, when it is presented in 2D or in 3D presentation in AR. Our sample was composed by University Students that differed with respect to the knowledge of plankton (naïve and competent condition). The subjects had to manipulate in AR some Application about plankton. After the AR manipulation, the subjects had to perform a recognition task during an EEG recording. We examined Event Related Potential P1, N2 and P3 components. Main result of the study was a significant change in amplitude in the parietal and central left lobe in all components in direction of greater amplitude in naïve condition. We interpret these results like a modulatory effect in the interaction with augmented reality application

Cognitive preference and 3D perceptions in Marine Biology Students

Innovative technologies are the new interactive learning tools for a new generation. In particular, Virtual and Augmented Reality are highly relevant because they involve embodied cognition. However, there are very few studies on how our brain perceives a 3D anaglyph object or a 3D immersive object and if the level of perception is conditioned by cognitive preference and by stimuli recognition. We investigated this field of application in order to understand perceptual processing during Immersive Virtual Reality and 3D anaglyph perception, and to understand how to build a virtual reality movie based on Brain Computer Interface. The aim of this study was to understand how to build a neuroergonomic movie by creating interfaces between the brain and the computer by investigating the modulation of ERP component P3 during a virtual reality task. For the construction of a virtual reality movie with planktonic elements for MAUS, a University Museum, we analyzed a set of images in 2D and 3D active stereoscopic glasses (MAUS objects 2D, Tarbosaurus 3D, Plankton 3D, Plankton 2D, coloured screens 2D). The images were presented with E-prime presentation, in the context of the museum. The images were presented with a Go-no Go paradigm (with E-prime 2.0 presentation) during EEG and GSR recording. Participants were instructed to press a computer key when they recognised an element living in the sea during a presentation of a set of random images in 2D, anaglyph and stereo active 3D. The task was presented in a 3D immersive environment. We recruited 8 Marine Biology and 11 Cultural Heritage university students (both groups were age and gender matched). All the subjects were volunteers and had normal hearing, normal or corrected to normal vision and had right manual dominance. A GLM repeated measures analysis was computed for the amplitude and latency of the P300 component, RT and GSR. Main results from statistical analyses showed significant differences in group and the type of objects in perceptual modality as well as a group x image interaction effect. Analyses for lateralisation showed a significant difference in left amplitude in the direction of an increased amplitude in the left hemisphere in the Marine Biology students. For image condition, we found increased amplitude in the left hemisphere for 3D pictures as well. In agreement with these results, we could say that immersive 3D processing is really different from 2D or 3D non-immersive processing. We can also observe a different kind of arousal, on the left side when the subject was competent and on the right side when the analysis of the plankton stimulus was devoid of semantic knowledge of the image. In conclusion, the stimulus in virtual reality can be analyzed and studied in a much more precise 3D nature, the perception criteria of a 3D immersive stimulus are normally very different and a neuroergonomic and neuroaestethic approach must interface with these perceptive products

Olografia e sistemi di comunicazione avanzati per i sotterranei del Castello di Otranto

The latest frontiers of holography and the use of beacon communication systems provide new models of exploitation and enjoyment of cultural heritage goods. The application of these technologies at the Castle of Otranto (Lecce) enhance the tourists’ experience, giving life to the underground and immersing the visitor in the Middle Age. Holographic installations connected to advanced control systems create a point of contact between the tourist and the people who have written the history of the Castle. In order to transform the traditional guided-tour to an interactive and experiential guided tour, the system also provides two apps accessible from mobile devices: an audio guide dedicated to foreign tourists and an application dedicated to the tourist guide for controlling the holographic installations and for monitoring visitors