Utilizing Stereography to Compare Cultural Heritage in the Past and Now: An Interactive AR Application

Abstract

Due to the astonishing speed in technological progress for new heterogeneous experiences, the Mixed Reality continuum represents nowadays an invaluable tool for cultural heritage applications, and the possibility of seemingly natural interaction with virtual elements is paving the way for more immerse, ve and deeply enjoyable experiences, both in dedicated spaces, such as museums and exhibitions, and in public spaces via the latest mobile AR technologies. This paper illustrates the complete workflow followed for the design and implementation of an Augmented Reality application on a holographic table, along with critical latency-quality tradeoffs encountered when combining both high-fidelity surveys and latency-sensibility devices and experiences. A workaround is provided in order to mitigate the impact of low-importance models on the overall latency utilizing a software toolchain employing Google Maps/Earth web applications; each software comprises the toolchain Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) for a more adaptive workaround with a wider range of suitable applications. The application is then tested with the students of LaborA, which is the modeling laboratory of “Politecnico di Milano”.