(Re)presenting heritage: Laser scanning and 3D visualisations for cultural resilience and community engagement

Abstract

Cultural heritage is increasingly being viewed as an economic asset for geographic areas who aim to capitalise in the surge in interest in local history and heritage tourism from members of the public. Digital technologies have developed that facilitate new forms of engagement with heritage and allow local areas to showcase their history, potentially broadening interest to a wider audience, thus acting as a driver for cultural and economic resilience. The research presented in this paper explores this through interdisciplinary research utilising laser scanning and visualisation in combination with social research in Elgin. 3D data capture technologies were used to develop and test 3D data visualisations and protocols through which the urban built heritage can be digitally recorded. The main focus of this paper surrounds the application and perceptions of these technologies. Findings suggest that the primary driver for cultural heritage developments was economic (with an emphasis on tourism) but further benefits and key factors of community engagement, social learning and cultural resilience were also reported. Stakeholder engagement and partnership working, in particular, were identified as critical factors of success. The findings from the community engagement events demonstrate that laser scanning and visualisation provide a novel and engaging mechanism for co-producing heritage assets. There is a high level of public interest in such technologies and users who engaged with these models reported that they gained new perspectives (including spatial and temporal perspectives) on the built heritage of the area.

A Virtual Museum Installation for Time Travel

“…The system, which features cross-platform support (made possible by web technologies), enables users to visualise a 3D model of a mediaeval town with minimal resources. The impact of 3D technologies in the domain of cultural heritage is investigated in [11], and the findings affirm the case for using digital capture approaches such as photogrammetry and laser scanning to foster community engagement with cultural heritage, as well as the use of immersive technologies such as virtual reality headsets to provide compelling experiences thus increasing users' engagement with heritage content. These work demonstrate different ways in which 3D technologies can be used to recreate and visualise the past.…”

“…These work demonstrate different ways in which 3D technologies can be used to recreate and visualise the past. The reconstruction process described in [7], the user-centric approach adopted in [8], the multi-platform approach adopted in [9] and [10], and the findings of [11] have been given due consideration in the actualisation of this project.…”

The Making and Evaluation of Picts and Pixels: Mixed Exhibiting in the Real and the Unreal

“…As a popular and growing method of preservation and presentation [ [7]], the 3D models were placed to help with further interrogation. This facilitated visitors to view aspects of the objects that were either obscured in their physical presentation,or were so small minute details were barely visible.…”

Digitizing Dunhuang Cultural Heritage: A User Evaluation of Mogao Cave Panorama Digital Library

“…Interactivity is regarded as important for cultural heritage DLs because online visitors would naturally expect that the digitized historical sites can preserve as much the visiting experiences of the real sites as possible. Therefore, DLs with better interactivity can help make the virtual visiting experiences more engaging and richer, through facilitating multi-dimension perceptions, observations, and manipulations (if possible) (Tait et al, 2016).…”

“…DLs have thus contributed to the solutions to both heritage preservation and geo-location independent access. This, in turn, makes DLs agents for promoting local history and cultural heritage to a wider audience (Tait et al, 2016).…”