Page 166 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

166Baelo Claudia - La Sibila (Cádiz)A Spanish case of virtual reconstruction is the work carried out by La Sibila190 to develop the recently launched mobile application for the Roman site of Baelo Claudia (second centuryBC to the seventh century AD). Its layers of geolocation information provide a virtual recon- struction of the surviving archaeological remains. Novel features include the possibility of viewing the di erent structures through the cameraon the user’s mobile device and adjusting the transparency of the layers superimposed onto the real image – this is what they call “selected reality”. The realism of the graphics, the perfect alignment of the overlaid virtual layers and the use of audio resources to recall the uses of each place make the visit an immersive experience and a genuine journey into the past, as well asa good example of the possibilities of this tech- nology in the eld of archaeology. The content and settings of the virtual reconstruction include the so-called Temple Terrace, the West Portico, the Temple of Isis and the Temple of Jupiter, all of which are part of the archaeological complex of Baelo Claudia. In addition, during the tourof the site captions appear to indicate what we are viewing when we point our camera in that particular direction [online resource - video].191The Labyrinth of FablesThe Labyrinth of Fables is an application that allows visitors to the maze that existed in the gardens of Versailles castle in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to enjoy a virtual experience. This labyrinth, built around 1665, was commissioned by Louis XIV and designed by the famous architect Andr Le Nôtre. The maze ex- tended over an area of more than two hectares in the vast grounds of the palace of Versailles and included 39 fountains, each of which illus- trated one of Aesop’s fables. It was destroyed in 1775 on the orders of Louis XVI and replaced by Marie Antoinette’s “Bosquet de la Reine”.The labyrinth was recently the object of several academic studies which highlight the historical and artistic importance of this example of garden design and landscaping, such as that carried out by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the French technological company JonLab192 (Giloth and Tanant, 2015). They created the website193 with the same name, from which it is possible to enjoy a virtual tour of the labyrinth or access the same content in situ via the app that can be downloaded from digital platforms.The virtual reconstruction194 was designed for the Labyrinth of Fables in Unity3D software to o er a virtual experience to users who visit the labyrinth with their mobile devices. By using the geolocation (GPS) system on their smartphone or tablet, users can explore the current “Bosquet de la Reine” while viewing on the screen of the device the appearance it would have had more than 250 years ago, when the labyrinth occupied the same place.The app comes with two modes enabling users to visit the place and enjoy a di erent experi- ence. One of the options is a “stroll” throughthe maze created during Louis XIV’s day. The other option is a game to arouse users’ interest using the “edutainment” formula – content that is both entertaining and educational. In game mode visitors must read one of Aesop’s fables and try to nd the moral. When they give the correct answer, the fountain illustrating that particular moral appears, so that as visitors come up with the correct answers the virtual labyrinth appears around them.The creators of this app for mobile devices have lately been studying the possibilities of using this virtual construction of the maze to create a more immersive experience which would involve adapting the application to optimise interaction with newer immersive systems such as Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets.2. DISSEMINATION, ENHANCEMENT AND EDUCATIONThe use of digital technologies in the conservation, analysis and dissemination of cultural heritage