Interactive Media for Cultural Heritage

Recently, the latest edited book I co-authored with colleagues from CYENS – Centre of Excellence and the University of Cyprus was published by Springer Series on Cultural Computing. The book is entitled ‘Interactive Media for Cultural Heritage’ and presents the full range of interactive media technologies and their applications in Digital Cultural Heritage. It offers a forum for interaction and collaboration among the interactive media and cultural heritage research communities.

The aim of this book is to provide a point of reference for the latest advancements in the different fields of interactive media applied in Digital Cultural Heritage research, ranging from visual data acquisition, classification, analysis and synthesis, 3D modelling and reconstruction, to new forms of interactive media presentation, visualization and immersive experience provision via extended reality, collaborative spaces, serious games and digital storytelling.

More information:

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-61018-9

High-Resolution LiDAR with Low-Power Laser

Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) have developed a compact and lightweight single-photon LiDAR system that can be deployed in the air to generate high-resolution three-dimensional images with a low-power laser. The technology could be used for terrain mapping, environmental monitoring, and object identification. To minimize such sensors’ energy consumption, USTC researchers devised a single-photon lidar system and tested it in an airborne configuration. The single-photon lidar system is made possible by detection systems that can measure the small amounts of light given out by the laser when it is reflected. The researchers had to shrink the entire LiDAR system to develop it. It works like a regular LiDAR system when sending light pulses toward its targets.

To capture the small amounts of light reflected, the team used highly sensitive detectors called single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays, which can detect single photons. To reduce the overall system size, they also used small telescopes with an optical aperture of 47 mm as receiving optics. The time-of-flight of the photons makes it possible to determine the distance to the ground, and advanced computer algorithms help generate detailed three-dimensional images of the terrain from the sensor. To validate the new system, they conducted daytime tests onboard a small airplane in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province. In pre-flight ground tests, the LiDAR demonstrated a resolution of nearly six inches (15 cm) from nearly a mile (1.5 km). They then implemented sub-pixel scanning and 3D deconvolution and found the resolution improved to 2.3 inches (six cm) from the same distance.

More information:

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/single-photon-lidar-china

3D Reconstruction of Old Maps

Researchers at Ohio State University (OSU), the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, and Chicago-based marketing solutions provider Epsilon have converted old Sanborn Fire Insurance maps into three-dimensional digital models of historic neighbourhoods with a new machine learning (ML) technique. The researchers tested their machine learning technique on two adjacent neighbourhoods on the near east side of Columbus, Ohio, that were largely destroyed in the 1960s to make way for the construction of I-70. One of the neighbourhoods, Hanford Village, was developed in 1946 to house returning Black veterans of World War II. The other neighbourhood in the study was Driving Park, which also housed a thriving Black community until I-70 split it in two. The researchers used 13 Sanborn maps for the two neighbourhoods produced in 1961, just before I-70 was built. Machine learning techniques were able to extract the data from the maps and create digital models.

Comparing data from the Sanborn maps to today showed that a total of 380 buildings were demolished in the two neighbourhoods for the highway, including 286 houses, 86 garages, five apartments and three stores. Analysis of the results showed that the machine learning model was very accurate in recreating the information contained in the maps – about 90% accurate for building footprints and construction materials. Using the machine learning techniques developed for this study, researchers could develop similar 3D models for nearly any of the 12,000 cities and towns that have Sanborn maps. This will allow researchers to re-create neighbourhoods lost to natural disasters like floods, as well as urban renewal, depopulation, and other types of change. Because the Sanborn maps include information on businesses that occupied specific buildings, researchers could re-create digital neighbourhoods to determine the economic impact of losing them to urban renewal or other factors. 

More information:

https://news.osu.edu/turning-old-maps-into-3d-digital-models-of-lost-neighborhoods/

Apple AR Maps in Tokyo

In 2021, Apple first introduced AR navigation to its Apple Maps app, allowing iOS users to navigate their real-world environment using virtual overlays. Like Google Maps’ Live View, users can use their smartphone’s camera to follow a series of virtual arrows leading to their desired location.

Recently the company’s AR walking guidance feature has arrived in Tokyo, Japan, offering local iOS users a new way to navigate their labyrinth-like city. The news was first reported by Alta Distance, who discovered the feature yesterday after spotting the ‘Refine Location’ icon on their app.

More information:

https://vrscout.com/news/explore-tokyo-using-ar-technology-powered-by-apple-maps/