Digital 3D Documentation Curation Platform for Cultural Heritage Sites

Abstract

Using an abandoned stronghold under renovation as a cultural heritage use case, this paper focuses on methods for the creation of a digital documentation platform that aims at the preservation of both the physical site, through the recreation of a 3D environment, and the intangible historical and sociocultural elements through an interactive game like experience. The result is a solution that allows the user to explore a 3D environment while observing the recreated structures of the stronghold based on 3D models, and the development of interactive methods to promote the visualization of historical content placed in such environment. The solution also allows the evolution of the system, making it possible to rearrange and curate the environment into different setups. The system went through an evaluation process where users tested the diverse features and the results express a positive response from the users towards the usability of the platform, as well as a positive opinion on the virtualization of the historical site and the interactive methods for content visualization.