The Smart Sightseeing prototype is targeted for enhancing the user experience of sightseeing the tourist and archaeological sites. The prototype is equipped with Augmented Reality interface, to enrich users sightseeing by adding visual and audio stimuli.
Our prototype application is implemented for sightseeing in the old town of Split. Applications provide a user with navigation trough AR interface. Locations of interest are placed accordingly into the AR environment, and their position is displayed relative to user orientation. This type of navigation provides users with a friendlier type of navigation where the user can continue exploring the area by continually keeping track of the direction of the desired destination.
To enhance sightseeing experience, virtual content is presented user through the AR interface upon arrival to a specific destination. For example, when the user arrives at the location of the Bajamonti’s fountain, the application renders the fountain but in the historical form of the original Bajamonti’s fountain. The application places the rendered fountain relatively to the real-world position and allows the user to explore it from different perspectives.
Besides AR navigation our prototype enables auralization of Split’s sea promenade. During whole sightseeing auralization module provides a user with an immersive aural stimulus over the AR device headphones with which the augmented soundscape is presented. The soundscape is defined by the characteristic historical environmental sounds which function is to stimulate the user’s perception of the real surrounding environment, additional augmented environment, and overall user’s experience.