Page 138 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

138under imminent threat of terrorist activity, global warming, degradation of the environment and other factors.September 2016 saw the launch of the organi- sation’s portal72 featuring some of the results of the three-dimensional virtual reconstructionsof the Temple of Bel, the Arch of Triumph and the interior of the Roman Theatre. The project also involves creating an archive of thousands of digital models of heritage buildings to be used by sector professionals, scientists, researchers and the general public.One of the novelties is a basic tutorial73 pub- lished on the project’s website, which invites anyone wishing to do so to document their heritage in order to make this a collaborative safeguarding practice that is open to society.As it mixes the virtual and the real, this tech- nology is applicable to many cases in the eld of heritage conservation. It makes it possible to visualise pathologies or proposed interventions using virtual graphics that are superimposed onto the real object.These practices have been carried out in combi- nation with mobile devices, for which a number of applications have been designed based on augmented reality, which guide users in diagnos- ing the conservation of a building by means of rst-hand observation.This technology is therefore a valuable tool for professionals in the eld of heritage conserva- tion, as it can diagnose possibilities of interven- ing.Rasmap - Realidad Aumentada Móvil para la Conservación del PatrimonioIn Spain a few innovative proposals for the use of augmented reality have emerged, such asthat developed by Jos Luis Izkara in his thesis “Realidad aumentada móvil para la conservación del patrimonio” (Mobile augmented reality for heritage conservation), which involves usingthis technology to visualise intervention pro- posals and their results in situ before actually implementing them (Izkara, 2010). It consists of a personal mobile assistant for mobile devices and o ers a system based on a platform called Rasmap, which guides the user through the conservation diagnosis of a building through rst-hand observation. One of the experiments, carried out in the historic part of Labraza (Álava), consisted of a PDA that provided informationon particular constructional elements and options for accessing public spaces, amongother features. Several markers were distributed around the area and when the PDA’s camera was pointed at them they provided several resources for visualising the intervention possibilities by means of virtual graphics overlaid on the real image of the building.Figure 03 - 3D virtual reconstructions of monuments of Palmyra. Photo: screenshot. Source: http://the-arckives.org/%5D1.8 Augmented reality appsAugmented reality technology consists in inserting virtual graphics into our real physical space so that the real and the virtual combineto produce an enhanced or augmented imageof reality. Although augmented reality is closely linked to virtual reality, they di er in their con guration, as virtual reality refers to worlds or environments made up entirely of comput- er-generated graphics, whereas in augmented reality environments the presence of a real image combined with virtual graphics is essential.1. DOCUMENTATION, DIAGNOSIS AND CONSERVATION