Page 193 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

warranted a survey. A method was devisedfor evaluating the appeal of the twenty most popular tourist destinations in the world using geolocation tweets (between 10 September 2010 and 21 October 2015), which have become an important tool for determining aspects relating to human mobility worldwide, in this case with monumental heritage as the main attraction (Bassolas et al., 2016).309The chief aim of this study was not simply to analyse the most visited places, but to ascertain which places attract visitors from most partsof the world. The results provided information on the most attractive tourist spots, which included the twenty in the sample; and on the most popular according to tourists’ place of residence, which were the Ei el Tower (Paris), Times Square (New York) and the Tower of London. The study also built a global network of destinations connected by tourists’ preferences, the main connectivity being between the Ei el Tower, Times Square, Plaza del Zócalo (Mexico) and the Tower of London.The study was found to be a useful instrument for public authorities and private enterprise for assessing the impact of tourism on the local environment in elds such as geography, the economy and town planning.CHESS projectThe visitor studies initiative that is part of the CHESS project adds a new dimension, as the app is designed to monitor visitors in real time, analysing each of their interactions with the content of the application. There were param- eters which, depending on the user’s choices, modi ed the dynamics and content displayed in the application so that it was in tune with the visitor’s preferences.CHESS310 (Cultural Heritage Experiences through Socio-personal interactions and Storytelling)is a project that is co-funded by the European Commission. It aims to integrate interdisciplinaryresearch in personalisation and adaptation of digital, interactive and mixed reality content oriented at promoting cultural sites from an en- tertaining and educational approach. Its principal objective is to research, implement and evaluate both the experiencing of personalised interactive stories for visitors and their authoring by cultural content experts.Augmented reality technology was considered as part of the CHESS project to develop an interac- tive mobile guide that could be used to interpret some of the sculptures housed in the Acropolis Museum (Athens, Greece). For this purpose an application for smartphones and tablets was designed with augmented reality content forthe Archaic Period (Keil et al., 2013).311 During the tests carried out in the museum, visitors were able to view the original polychrome of the female archaic sculptures or Korai and gain a complete view of a relief of Medusa, of which only a few isolated fragments survive, allowing the general public to interpret and learn more about the cultural object [online resource - video].312However, as stated earlier, the objectives of this innovative experience were not limited to the augmented reality content; this content was furthermore part of a personalised visitors’ guide showing the highlights of the collection as well as featuring other more traditional resources such as commentaries, videos and interactive games, etc.To evaluate visitor conduct with this multimedia guide, the application’s “CHESS Pro ler” mon- itored their conduct, considered interactionsto be negative or positive depending on certain parameters and accordingly adapted the content to the visitor pro le for the rest of the tour (Katifori et al., 2014).313AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2017193The use of digital technologies in the conservation, analysis and dissemination of cultural heritage