Digital Twin: a new perspective for cultural heritage management and fruition

Abstract

<p class="Abstract">This paper describes the example of an interesting distance visit approach carried out during the COVID-19 emergency, applied to an underground oil-mill in the town of Gallipoli (Puglia, Italy). The limitations of access for people with disabilities and the complete closure of Italian museums during the emergency have suggested the development of an immersive platform, in the broader perspective of using the output in accordance to digital twin perspectives. Then a tool to support an innovative visit method has been realized: a virtual visit assisted by a real remote guide, hereinafter referred to as “Live-Guided Tour” with e-learning functionality. All this has been made possible starting from a three-dimensional model of an underground oil-mill, from which we extracted the stereoscopic scenes. The stereoscopy is very important for the overall success of the project, because this aspect influences the level of interest, the immersion and the ability to generate emotion and wonder. To the best of Author’s knowledge, this is the only system available today for a shared virtual visit for an inaccessible context, which implements many features of a VR visit in a multi-user and multi-platform environment.</p>

Digital Twins and Cultural Heritage Preservation: A Case Study of Best Practices and Reproducibility in Chiesa dei SS Apostoli e Biagio

“…The pace of immersive reality adoption for cultural heritage preservation and reconstruction has accelerated and has moved from the domain of specialists and technicians to the public, scholars, and non-specialists (Gabellone, 2022).…”

Digital Twins and Cultural Heritage Preservation: A Case Study of Best Practices and Reproducibility in Chiesa dei SS Apostoli e Biagio

“…The pace of immersive reality adoption for the cultural heritage preservation and reconstruction has accelerated and has moved from the domain of specialists and technicians to the public, scholars, and non-specialists (Gabellone, 2022). Beginning with examples such as virtual environments (VE) created using CAVE technology as in the Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW), digital reconstructions of ancient cities began to appear, albeit exteriors without realistic texturing (Tzortzaki, 2001).…”

The use of digital twin models to document cultural heritage monuments

“…The digital twin consists of three components: the physical space, the representation of the physical space and the data and information associated with the space [4]. The creation of digital twins related to cultural heritage are used as a representation of reality in which the physical space is represented, enriched, and complemented by digital components [5][6]. The potential of digital twinning has not been fully explored in the Cultural Heritage sector, even though digital twins greatly benefit the public to experience cultural heritage [6].…”

“…The creation of digital twins related to cultural heritage are used as a representation of reality in which the physical space is represented, enriched, and complemented by digital components [5][6]. The potential of digital twinning has not been fully explored in the Cultural Heritage sector, even though digital twins greatly benefit the public to experience cultural heritage [6]. Digital twins of cultural heritage sites provide the opportunity for the public to experience the site in a dynamic manner and provides information to researchers, architects, archeologists and cultural heritage experts without being physically present at the site [7].…”