Extending 3D-GIS District Models and BIM-Based Building Models into Computer Gaming Environment for Better Workflow of Cultural Heritage Conservation

Abstract

Research on cultural heritage conservation has shifted from emphasizing the digital information process with the advantages of “precision” and “visualization” in the early stage to focusing on the development of “realistic” and “highly experiential” gamified interactive environments. As game technology provides a highly interactive experience, effective communication, and an integrated environment, it brings new application opportunities for the future development of the reconstruction of historical blocks and cultural spaces. This study takes the old city blocks and historic buildings in Taiwan as examples, applies ArcGIS and SketchUp as the information modeling software, uses the Unity3D game engine as the development platform, and carries out the integration and interactive presentation of the scene information model through the two-stage process of information modeling and programming integration. The historical building information model and 3D-GIS attribute data are integrated, and the visibility and interaction of the information model of the old city blocks are enhanced. Using game technology to optimize the digital integration process of cultural asset not only simplifies the integration of multiple information models and provides two-way updates, but also effectively enhances the interaction and display application capabilities of historic district and building space information. The development tasks that were completed in this research are (1) integrate historical building models and 3D-GIS attribute data; (2) get all the necessary visual information; (3) update historical buildings and historic district models and data at any time; (4) provide virtual reality simulation function and environmental interaction experience.

Joint development of cultural heritage protection and tourism: the case of Mount Lushan cultural landscape heritage site

“…GIS has unique advantages for data collection, storage, and manipulation of datasets [13]. By integrating historical building information models and 3D-GIS attribute data, the visibility and interactivity of the information models used in cultural heritage sites can be enhanced [14]. Virtual reality (VR) technology also has exceptional value in tourism marketing and cultural relic protection, involving computer graphic rendering, artificial intelligence, networks, and sensor technology, and can virtually reconstruct and simulate cultural heritage.…”

Improved Interaction of BIM Models for Historic Buildings with a Game Engine Platform

“…Among them, the application of game engines in 3D model visualization has gradually become a research trend of concern [3][4][5][6][7][8], as it provides a high degree of interactive experience, as well as effective communication and an integration environment. Moreover, as the BIM model contains a lot of geometric and non-geometric information, it is the perfect candidate to be imported into the game engine to build a realistic virtual environment.…”

“…Therefore, Ma, Y.P. et al [4,5] selected SketchUp software, as it has a low threshold, to build a historic building model with high details, followed by building the attribute data of the historic building volume with GIS. Then, the SketchUp building model of the historic block, as well as its corresponding GIS attribute data, were imported together into the Unity 3D environment to integrate the model information and present the virtual scenes to preliminary complete information integration and complete the function development of the interactive platform.…”

“…Moreover, our research team has exhausted a lot of experience due to two related previous works [5,20], mentioned in the literature section of this article. The former [5] completed the development of the Revit plug-in interface API, and the latter [20] tried to import the information model into the Unity platform for the integration of geometric models and non-geometric semantics. The purpose of this research is to continue the accumulation of related research.…”

Digital Modelling and Accuracy Verification of a Complex Architectural Object Based on Photogrammetric Reconstruction

“…SFM and MVS reconstructions made using VisualSFM software can monitor construction progress via comparison with BIM models [28]. The model can be presented as a video game environment [29], a virtual reality element, or be recreated in 3D printing as a mock-up, which guarantees the accessibility of knowledge for blind and visually impaired people [30].…”