New software designed for smart phones may provide exciting new ways of presenting information at historical sites, museums and tourist attractions (BMT)
The technology uses “augmented reality” (AR) to overlay 3D images and information in real-time over photos and video taken on smart phones. The software system – named iTacitus – can determine the location and download the appropriate information from a central internet server.
“iTacitus gives you a chance to go back in time and see ancient Europe appear before you in the modern world,” said Luke Speller, a senior researcher at BMT Group Ltd, a UK engineering company, who led the software development.
“[Visitors] can look at a historic site and, by taking a photo or viewing it through the camera on their mobile device, be able to access much more information about it … One of [our] key innovations is that we do not need markers in each location to tell the mobile device to show a certain image or pull up certain information. Instead, the video or photograph taken by the user is sent to a server and analysed by software that matches it with AR content in the database,” explained Speller in a press release.
The system has been trialled at The Palace of Venaria near Turin, Italy, and Winchester Castle in the UK. In Turin, users could view frescos in their former glory and see what a now-ruined temple in the palace grounds may once have looked. In the Great Hall at Winchester, visitors were given an introduction by a virtual King Arthur sitting at his round table.
The software is being designed to run on the iPhone and other smart phones because test users found small hand-held computers “hard to see in daylight and too bulky to carry around”, said Speller.
As well as the AR facility, the software can also help tourists plan their trips based on their personal preferences and discover sights “off the beaten” track which they might otherwise not have heard about.
“It’s probable that, by giving visitors access to more information in a more interactive way and helping them find different events and places of interest more easily, they will spend more time and do more during their visit,” said Speller.
Development of a commercial version of the software is planned, which would be provided free to users. A fee – around the cost of a guidebook – would be charged to download the information for a particular location.
The developers imagine that more AR content will be generated as the idea is taken up by museums, historical sites and tourist boards of regions and cities looking to promote their attractions to visitors.
The project, funded by the European Union, ran from September 2006 to July 2009 and was aimed at exploring “ways in which information technology could be employed to encourage cultural tourism,” according to the project website itacitus.org.
