Mobile Augmented Reality for Cultural Heritage: Following the Footsteps of Ovid among Different Locations in Europe

Abstract

There are many examples of cultural events that distinguish people nationally. Celebrating this can bring people closer, as inhabitants of different countries share similar cultural values. This study investigates a sustainable way to enhance these types of events. On the occasion of the 2000-year anniversary of the death of the Roman poet Ovid, we propose a mobile augmented reality (MAR) application that contains historical information related to his life. As Ovid often stated in his last poems, he feared his work would be forgotten after his exile from Rome. This paper focuses on assessing whether this is the case, while also disseminating factual, historic data to people who tested the application. Experiments were conducted in Italy and Romania, in three different cities: Sulmona, Rome, and Constanta. Based on the results collected, four constructs were investigated: comprehensibility, manipulability, enjoyment, and usefulness. The results revealed that the usability of the MAR application, and the interaction metaphor, are appropriate for the general public. The MAR application provided a positive experience, and thus, increased the extent of the occasion.

Evaluation of Augmented Reality-Based Building Diagnostics Using Third Person Perspective

“…In order to obtain proper occlusion and registration of the virtual castle, a 3D model of the region needs to be manually aligned with the user's current view first. Other examples of recent AR applications for cultural heritage, which draw on off-the-shelf AR toolkits, have been reported in [19,20]. While outdoor location-based AR games are not a new concept, Pokémon Go is among the very few commercialized examples that have enjoyed global success.…”

“…Different application purposes impose varied precision and accuracy requirements on AR systems being developed. For instance, AR for displaying name labels of landmarks [29], visualizing location-based historical content [20] or rendering creatures for players to interact with [21,22] does not require the virtual content to be perfectly aligned with associated real world objects. On the other hand, stakeholders would be more interested in system inherent errors if AR tools are involved in revealing models of underground utilities related to a street for surveying [14] or measuring discrepancy between as-built and as-planned construction components [38].…”

Enriching Natural Monument with User-Generated Mobile Augmented Reality Mashup

“…Martínez et al presented TinajAR which is a multi-marker video-based AR edutainment application for showing virtual ceramic pieces and explaining the pottery process through virtual avatars [3]. Boboc et al proposed a mobile AR application that contains historical information related to the Roman poet Ovid [4]. Guimarães et al applied AR technology as a form of digital media art to the Caloust Gulbenkian Foundation Garden in Lisbon, Portugal [5].…”

“…They considered AR as an effectively promising technology that can preserve CH and enhance visitors' satisfaction while strengthening visitors' learning experience [1]. There are many examples of employing AR in CH sites [2][3] [4][5] [6] [7]. However, even if AR contents are used, visitors are often offered with limited explanation on-site using pre-defined static information on various assets.…”

Nurturing Environmental Education at the Tertiary Education Level in China: Can Mobile Augmented Reality and Gamification Help?

“…Recently, with the exponential growth of information and communication technology (ICT), mobile computing devices have become commonplace among university students [7,8]. Along with this trend, there also emerges a research interest in gamifying EE in recent years [9][10][11][12][13][14]. However, at present, it is not rare for university teachers to characterize mobile devices as detrimental to the quality of university education.…”