Virtual Reality to Support Technical Knowledge in Cultural Heritage. The Case Study of Cryptoporticus in the Archaeological Site of Egnatia (Italy)

Abstract

Abstract. Digitalization and interactivity of reality in Augmented and Virtual Environments represent the synergic union between current technology potentialities and smartness of users in going beyond the traditional perception of real environment. As it is well-known, touristic bodies already taken advantages of Virtual Environments as cultural and touristic promotion of historic and archaeological sites. However, the analysis of potentialities in supporting technical community and professionals are still underway. Starting from the survey of instruments and protocols in previous experiences, the work presents a methodological flow aimed to create a virtual environment using 360° images – Virtual Tour – where the first phase of technical knowledge in historic sites can be resumed. In detail, a double level of knowledge can be reached: firstly, a virtual environment containing information about the actual state of conservation, then an upgraded one with historic and technical information (e.g. reports, images, surveys, etc.) added in an interactive as well intuitive way. The protocol has been applied to the undergrounded Cryptoporticus of Egnatia, an archaeological site in Apulia Region (Italy).

VERBUM – virtual enhanced reality for building modelling (virtual technical tour in digital twins for building conservation)

“…(Rysanek et al, 2017) pointed out on weakness of Building Information Modelling (BIM) for conservation activities on existing buildings, caused by BIM parameterization, to propose Virtual Reality platforms for navigating physical environments, created with equirectangular images, labelled with data or text widgets. In the same direction, (Castagnetti et al, 2017;De Fino et al, 2019 andCantatore et al, 2020) proposed workflows for employing Virtual Reality with the aim of streamlining the management of technical knowledge in cultural heritage. (Ferrari and Medici, 2017), within the scope of the INCEPTION project, tested the Virtual experience mock-up for captured technical data accessibility (digital documentation and 3D survey).…”

“…The study of conservation state through the elaboration of thematic maps about crack and damp patterns and building pathologies according to the UNI 11182/2006, is generally represented in CAD, recently in BIM. In VERBuM process and product, the decay mapping procedures tested by (Cantatore et al, 2020;Fino et al, 2019) are performed, on the basis of on-site preliminary identification and representation through the annotation tool present in the VERBuM platform.…”

“…Therefore, the introduction of the Virtual Technical Tours (VTT), as photorealistic environments, has been proposed into the process. The VTT consists of 360° photos acquired from reality (Maiellaro et al, 2019), and usable in either non-immersive (via mobile device or computer) or immersive view (through the use of headset or within Cave Automatic Virtual Environment -CAVE; Bourdot et al, 2019), which have demonstrated their effectiveness in reconstructing a strong perceptual experience in the tourism/educational field and sharing knowledge through interactive tools, located in the environment to view texts, videos, audio and other digital contents (Cantatore et al, 2020).…”

“…Otherwise, the Virtual Tour generated with reality-based 360° photos/videos can be employed to understand the "as-is" conditions and make preliminary decisions about interventions, as it shows the site in full-scale and with vivid details and it is easily updatable. Therefore, VTT could be an indisputable visual record, in the knowledge, planning and execution phases of the construction site (Cantatore et al, 2020). In both digital environments (BIMbased and VT-based) for Virtual Reality, the representation of the object is full-scale and the use is intuitive, engaging and allows a sense of presence (Paes et al, 2017).…”

Modelling the Evolution of the Archaeological Works Developed in Qubbet El-Hawa (Aswan, Egypt)

“…In addition, the presence of narrow spaces or occlusions could increase the quantity of photographs needed to cover the structure using normal focal lenses mounted in non-metric cameras. So some alternative procedures, such as the use of wide angle lens (Gómez-Lahoz, González-Aguilera, 2009;Mozas et al, 2012;Martínez et al, 2013;Fiorillo et al, 2016), fisheye lens (Boulianne et al, 1997;Kedzierski, Waczykowski, 2007;Georgantas et al, 2012;Covas et al, 2015;Perfetti et al 2017;Barazzetti et al, 2017b) and 360 degrees cameras (Pérez-Ramos, Robleda-Prieto, 2016;Kossieris et al, 2017;Mandelli et al, 2017;Barazzetti et al, 2017a;Fangi et al, 2018;Cantatore et al 2020;Bertellini et al, 2019) were implemented in order to reduce the quantity of images needed to cover the object. The use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) (Colomina, Molina, 2014;Nex, Remondino, 2014;Campana, 2017) and masts (Georgopoulos, 1999;Mozas-Calvache et al, 2012;Martínez et al 2013;Ortiz et al, 2013;Blockley, Morandi, 2015;Martínez et al, 2015;Pérez et al, 2019;Mozas-Calvache et al, 2019) to lift cameras supposes a useful alternative to photographs acquired from the ground because of the improvement of the coverage of the object (usually on the terrain) and the reduction of the occlusions (e.g.…”