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This paper proposes a serious game that explores and digitally reconstructs the soundscape of the relocated Ottoman Sabīl (water dispensary) wa-Kuttāb (Quran elementary school) of Ismāʿīl al-Maghlawī, in historic Cairo, dated to 1657 CE. The sabīl was relocated in 1939 from its original location in Khān al-Khalīlī Street. It used to have an underground cistern, filled yearly with pure water from the Nile River, and provided water to passersby from its water dispensary room's window. The authors employed acoustic surveys to collect the impulse responses (IRs) in this sabīl toward developing an auralization using Odeon software. The auralized files were then deployed as a game using the Unity game engine, where players can identify the sabīl's architecture, soundscape, and spatial transformation over time. The game reveals the reverberating sounds of the sabīl's water path and, in the process, highlights the importance of acoustic documentation in the reconstruction of heritage buildings.

In the field of Digital Heritage Studies, data provenance has always been an open and challenging issue. As Cultural Heritage objects are unique by definition, the methods, the practices and the strategies to build digital documentation are not homogeneous, universal or standardized. Metadata is a minimalistic yet powerful form to source and describe a digital document. They are often required or mandatory at an advanced stage of a Digital Heritage project. Our approach is to integrate since data capture steps meaningful information to document a Digital Heritage asset as it is moreover being composed nowadays from multiple sources or multimodal imaging surveys. This article exposes the methodological and technical aspects related to the ongoing development of MEMoS; standing for Metadata Enriched Multimodal documentation System. MEMoS aims to contribute to data provenance issues in current multimodal imaging surveys. It explores a way to document CH oriented capture data sets with a versatile descriptive metadata scheme inspired from the W7 ontological model. In addition, an experiment illustrated by several case studies, explores the possibility to integrate those metadata encoded into 2D barcodes directly to the captured image set. The article lays the foundation of a three parted methodology namely describe - encode and display toward metadata enriched documentation of CH objects.

3D digitization of cultural heritage has long been used to preserve information about cultural heritage (CH) objects such as architecture, art, and artifacts. 3D dissemination of CH objects through technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D printing have impacted the fields of art history and cultural heritage and have become more common. Yet, studies that go beyond the technical aspects of 3D technology and treat such topics as their significance for restoration, conservation, engagement, education, research, and ethics hardly exist. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, it aims to get a better understanding of the applicability of each technology for different purposes (education, research, conservation/restoration, and museum presentation), and, on the other hand, it focuses on the perception of these technologies. This research was carried out by combining a literature review with quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data acquired through (1) a questionnaire of eleven questions and (2) a workshop with a group of specialists and non-specialists who were asked to brainstorm about the different uses of the 3D technologies and their applicability to their areas of work and research. Based on the analysis of these quantitative and qualitative data, we provide some criteria for using 3D digitized and printed reproductions to enhance cultural experiences. The results demonstrate the importance of carefully designing 3D interactions in the personal and cultural contexts of end-users and cultural institutions in order to create authentic cultural experiences.

This paper examines the importance of the process of collaboration and community engagement in developing and applying digital heritage resources. It draws on case studies from the authors’ experiences building partnerships between a university’s anthropology undergraduate program and a provincial museum to teach community-engaged applied digital heritage. The process of creating and using digital technologies in heritage environments were transformative for not only students but also professional archaeologists and communities, highlighting the meaningful engagement and understandings that are developed through collaborative making. However, it also highlighted the challenges facing these types of collaborations, including academic and heritage structures, digital preservation/management, and ethics and inclusivity in digitization projects.

In an essay on architectural representation, Stan Allen (2000) wrote about a paradoxical nature of built forms: “Buildings are presumably more tangible and physically present than drawings, yet it is only in the experience of the building that the most intangible aspects of reality can be made visible.” Documenting a heritage site is difficult since no representational method can make an exact copy without loss. This paper specifically examines panoramic recording media and related technologies as new means to archive and represent architectural heritage. It looks at cost effective and widely available platforms such as 360 video recording, YouTube, and immersive Head Mounted Display (HMD) equipment. Tests with subjects are conducted to probe how the experience of recorded panorama compares to the spatial and temporal experience in the physical space. For instance, the subjects with HMD are tested for the ability of sensing the correct scale and proportion of spatial forms in the playback. Through analysis of the test results, discussions are made as to the roles such systems can play in conveying the spatial environment, especially in representing some of its intangible aspects. The paper shows examples of prototype designs for exhibition that utilize panoramically recorded onsite footage in derivative forms. Recordings of sites such as Palladio’s villas and the Acropolis in Athens are used to demonstrate spatial and temporal editing, interactive panoramic walk-through combined with a map, and creation of a framed-video narrative reduced from panoramic videos. These methods illustrate a range of possibilities that put each dislocated recording back into context while controlling a balance between the viewer’s exploration and the intent of the curation, and shed a light on what is often difficult to achieve by other means of representations.

Aim of the project is to propose a full 3D model of the Circus of Maxentius in Rome encompassing all the aspects of the environment, as well as the architectural system. The Circus is part o a complex built by Maxentius at the beginning of the IV century AD. The maxentian complex is situated on the via Appia between the second and the third mile; nowadays this area is part of the Parco Regionale dell’Appina Antica, where is not possible to remove the vegetation in order to preserve the ecosystem. For this reason a large part of the Circus is covered by the vegetation, making the reconnaissance of the entire structure impossible for researchers. Starting point was the study of archaeological data, afterward the team carried on a survey on field to integrate the published data with new information useful to create a metrically correct reconstruction of the monument. To model both the landscape and the architectural structures it was used Blender, an opens source software, otherwise to model the statues it was used the 3D software ZBrusj. Each element was modeled using scientific references or, in absence of them, following likelihood criteria. The result is a metrically and scientifically correct 3D model of the Circus of Maxentius useful to study the monument from a new point of view. Integrating archaeological data and 3D graphic is possible to verify the hypothesis on the reconstruction of the monument. To propose an in-depth study complete 3D model is needed to understand the relation among the architectonic elements and the environment. A 3D model is also useful to communicate the monument to the public, in order to strength the relationship between heritage and citizens.

In Italy, in the academic field, there are many cases of collaboration between the University and various institutions protecting Cultural Heritage. It is made possible due to the large amount of archaeological heritage requiring restoration interventions and thanks to the need from students to put their skills into practice. This is the case of the partnership between the Archaeological Superintendence of Emilia Romagna and the Fine Arts Academy of Bologna (Italy) established in 2012. This collaboration has permitted to open an important restoration site in order to recover the Lapidary located in the courtyard of the historical Palazzo Ancarano. The restoration project was developed over a period of three years, plus an additional year to reorganize the exhibition path. The maintenance of an archaeological find was assigned to each student with the purpose of producing a thorough and complete documentation on the intervention made, necessary to leave a proof of the methods and materials used. A targeted work on every archaeological find present in the court, having an aim to arrange them around the perimeter of it in chronological order based on historical era. At the conclusion of the restoration and reorganization of the area, it is now necessary to add value in particular to the stele collection: pre-Roman, Roman and Medieval. This objective will be reached by opening the courtyard of the Palazzo Ancarano to the public, to bring again its original function, that is, a museum. To reach this purpose, we propose to use appropriate digital technologies associated with the archaeological items on display to improve the understanding of the collection by a wide variety of visitors, we intend to provide an instrument presenting information of various levels of detail and thoroughness enabling each visitor to deepen their knowledge according to their own interest.

During the years 2013-2016 a great number of buildings (medieval castles, churches and other monuments) in Slovakia were digitized. STUDIO 727 was the main provider of these digitalization works. The subject of our investigation was the most significant Slovakian historical objects. Within the digitalization project we have created 3D models of the most important Slovakian monuments, as e.g. Bojnice castle, gothic church in Spišský Štvrtok or Devin castle, where there are also artifacts from Roman period, La Tène era and Middle Ages. The aim of the project was to identify current technological possibilities for the creation of virtual presentations of real spaces. During the creation of the 3D models we used a combination of Photogrammetry and 3D space scanning by laser scanner LIDAR (Leica brand). Final modification of laser outputs was made using Cyclone software. Post processing was done with Capture Reality, Autodesk Maya and MeshLab software. 2D documentation was made using AutoCAD. The purpose of documentation was to capture the appearance of historical buildings and historical building technologies, to keep culture heritage for next generation. Some monuments, which have been falling apart progressively, were documented. The documentation created will contribute to culture heritage publicity and provides documentation for the future renovation of these particular monuments. The Entry of this project was the process of creating 3D virtual models and 2D documentation. Contribution was created thanks to EU project, within the Operational program Informatization of society. Project was supported by The Ministry of Culture of Slovak Republic and Government Office of Slovak Republic.

Downtown Vienna with its world-famous cultural sites and architectural features is most definitely worth conservation. One way to archive at least a digital 3D imprint is laser scanning. While urban mapping with airborne or mobile laser scanning is fast and efficient, the resulting point clouds might not have the required resolution or might experience gaps due to shadowing. Terrestrial laser scanning has the potential to overcome these limitations. However, it has long been considered time-consuming and labour-intensive both while capturing and also while processing the data. In order to challenge this, we performed a field test with the new RIEGL VZ-400i terrestrial laser scanner. For eight hours, in the night from 2nd to 3rd of June 2016, one single operator employed the instrument throughout the city center of Vienna. He managed to take 514 high-resolution laser scans with approximately 9m between the scan positions. The data acquired in the course of this test impressively demonstrates the potential of state-of-the-art terrestrial laser scanning to preserve detailed 3D-information of urban environments within limited amount of time. This paper describes the complete workflow from the one touch operation in the field up to the automatic registration process of the collected laser scans.