Page 190 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

190palace of Darul Aman as part of an immersive experience which also helped preserve this part of the almost extinct history.Virtual reality-BIM environmentsMilan cathedral (Italy) was the chosen scenario for testing the application of virtual reality visu- alisation techniques in the management of BIM (Building Information Modelling) installations in order to assess the role this technology could play in the cultural heritage sector in supporting conservation and maintenance activities (Fassi et al., 2016).298 The project was developed by a multidisciplinary team from the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construc- tion Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano (Italy), and the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Salerno (Italy).The point of departure was a multidisciplinary research project conducted on Milan cathedral for eight years (2008–2015), in which an accurate and detailed 3D model was built to use for taking measurements, and a building information system (BIS) was developed to collect all the data relating to the restoration projects, as well as full information on past, current and future maintenance activities on the cathedral.The last step entailed tapping into the potential of immersive and visualisation techniques to incorporate a VR environment into the BIM system. For this purpose 3D digital modelswere optimised and simpli ed in order to be implemented in a virtual reality environment, while the virtual reality system was created using Unity software.Lastly, connecting the augmented reality applica- tion to the BIM database would make it possible to create an immersive experience by using a virtual reality device, an Oculus Rift299 headset, in which in addition to exploring a virtual cathedral environment, users could access the technical in- formation stored in the BIM system. This would enable it to be used by sector professionals,improving their understanding of the structure and providing them with real-time georeferenced information on the state of preservation of the cathedral’s various architectural features as well as reports on earlier interventions.Future developments of the application include the possibility of users interacting with the BIM virtual reality system not just in read mode but being able to modify the data shown in the immersive environment.Finally, the system was presented as a funda- mental tool for addressing the main di culties in managing the information and maintaining such huge spaces as the cathedral.Geometric algebra and augmented realityAugmented reality already has a long track record in the twenty- rst century and an increas- ing number of applications are using this tech- nology. The cultural heritage sector is among those that have been bene tting the most from it.Nevertheless, the fact is that researchers are constantly conducting studies to perfect its functioning, especially the correct overlay of virtual graphics onto the real image of our environment to achieve a realistic perception where the boundaries between the real and the virtual are increasingly blurred.The Computer Science Department300 of the University of Crete and the Foundation for Re- search and Technology - Hellas,301 both of which have signi cant experience in applying aug- mented reality in cultural environments, are one of the research teams that have joined forcesin recent years to create augmented reality simulations (representation and animation) with life-sized virtual characters in open-air settings (Papagiannakis et al., 2014302 and Papaefthymiou et al., 2015).3033. RESEARCHThe use of digital technologies in the conservation, analysis and dissemination of cultural heritage