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The ARCHEOGUIDE project has been conceived as an advanced technology system that will be used in archaeological and cultural heritage sites with the aim to help visitors make the most of their visits.
Thousands of archaeological sites are scattered all over Europe covering all historical times from the rise of early civilizations to more recent times. The majority of these sites
are located in rural areas, usually at locations of rare beauty. However, most of these sites lie in ruins as a result of natural disasters, or human activity through the centuries. It not unusual for such sites to contain only scattered stones from the remains of the brilliant monuments that used to exist there in the past. So, despite the importance or former glory of a site, it is often very difficult for present day visitors to imagine the original appearance and use of the site.
The aim of the ARCHEOGUIDE system is to bridge this gap. It is designed to provide its users with Augmented Reality reconstructions of monuments and scenes from ancient life while providing guidance and audio narration. Visualization of the reconstructions is complemented with presentations of related artifacts stored at museums, and other information.
The system achieves realistic immersive presentations by mixing the real world with 3D reconstructions through special visualization devices. Its breakthrough consists of the fact that it does not isolate the user from the natural environments and does not distract his attention from the visit. Instead, it enriches the understanding of the ruins with information adapted to the userÕs profile and helps appreciate what is observed in the site.
With this principles in mind, the ARCHEOGUIDE consortium was formed, consisting of research institutions and private companies with high expertise and experience in archaeology and advanced visualization and mobile computing technologies. The result of this collaboration is the ARCHEOGUIDE prototype, which is presented in this book.
The system usage has been demonstrated at the archaeological site of Olympia, in Greece. The choice of the site was based on its importance as the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games and as one of the most important sanctuaries of ancient times. It is located in a beautiful rural landscape and is an excellent example of the possible future ARCHEOGUIDE applications as it lies mainly in ruins. Following the success at Olympia further installation are planned at major sites across Europe.
Nikolaos Ioannidis
Archeoguide Project leader - INTRACOM S.A.
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