The Contribution of Spatial Augmented Reality to the Synergy of Special and Alternative Forms of Tourism in Greece

This research investigates whether the evolution of augmented reality contributes to the combination of specific and alternative forms of tourism in Greece. More specifically, in the first stage, information and communication technologies and the new emerging perspectives that appear over time are described. Then, talking about special and alternative forms of tourism, the authors talk about cultural, gastronomic, and educational tourism, elements of which intersect in the light of spatial augmented reality (SAR). The main purpose of the chapter is to prove that SAR excels in the synergy of the three forms of tourism mentioned. Also, a successful example of the development of SAR in the Greek tourist area is given, with the presentation of a case study of a museum in Greece. Finally, the benefits provided by the combination of special forms of tourism with SAR are presented, and it is concluded that all ages have the opportunity to actively participate in such projects using SAR, without the informal exclusion of older people.

ALiS: Entwicklung einer Designtheorie für Augmented Living Spaces zur erweiterten Autonomie älterer und kognitiv eingeschränkter Menschen

ZusammenfassungDer Alltag älterer und kognitiv eingeschränkter Menschen kann mithilfe von informationstechnologischen Lösungen erheblich unterstützt werden. In diesem Kontext ist, wie unterschiedliche Ansätze bereits zeigen, der Einsatz von Augmented Reality für viele Einsatzszenarien eine vielversprechende Lösung. Jedoch stellen die üblicherweise genutzten Head-Mounted-Displays eine technische Hürde dar und können nicht ausnahmslos von allen Personen getragen werden. Als alternativen Lösungsansatz entwickelt der vorliegende Beitrag einen Augmented Living Space (ALiS). Dieser nutzt anstatt Headsets oder anderen tragbaren Geräten Spatial Augmented Reality, welche bspw. durch Beamer und Lautsprecher implementiert wird. Damit können individuelle, bedürfnisorientierte Funktionen ergonomisch und dennoch immersiv bereitgestellt werden. Hierdurch sollen betroffene Menschen befähigt werden, länger autonom leben zu können, ohne dabei auf tragbare Technik angewiesen zu sein. Ein ALiS gewährt dabei insbesondere eine nutzerzentrierte Unterstützung in den Bereichen der Wahrnehmung, Mobilität, Organisation sowie Medizin und ermöglicht die Herausforderungen des Alltags leichter zu bewältigen. Spatial Augmented Reality ist aktuell ein nur wenig erforschter Ansatz und wird vornehmlich in der Produktion eingesetzt. Daher werden in diesem Beitrag Designanforderungen, Designprinzipien und Design-Features einer Designtheorie formuliert, anhand derer zukünftig ein ALiS für ältere und kognitiv eingeschränkte Menschen mithilfe von Spatial Augmented Reality zielführend gestaltet und eingesetzt werden kann. Zur Definition der nutzerspezifischen und technischen Anforderungen wurde eine zweistufige strukturierte Literaturanalyse sowie eine moderierte Fokusgruppe mit Expert*innen und Anwender*innen durchgeführt. Die entwickelte Designtheorie besteht aus 3 Designanforderungen, 8 Designprinzipien sowie 13 Design-Features und bildet die Grundlage für die Entwicklung eines ALiS-Prototypen. Die wahrgenommene Nützlichkeit der Designtheorie für die Entwicklung eines ALiS wurde durch eine Befragung von Augmented Reality- und Workflow-Management-Experten positiv evaluiert.

Animated Urban Surfaces: Spatial Augmented Reality in public discourse

Today´s projection art on public surfaces developed from the mutual approximation of painting, architecture, and lighting during centuries. The terms “Spatial Augmented Reality” (SAR) and “projection mapping” describe mostly temporary large screen projections on urban surfaces. The façade architecture becomes the screen for the content, mostly projected 2D and 3D animations. In essence, many of these artworks generate illusionistic clips deriving from the existing façade structure, allowing reality and fiction to merge audio visually. Artists, architects, curators, and institutions are increasingly aware of their responsibility related to this form of the mediatization of architecture, as shown, for example, by the Brazilian artist group Visualfarm. Their members approach their work as a counterpoint to the commercialization of public space in its appropriation by industry, propaganda, and advertising. But on the other hand, they also make a living from commercial assignments. Artists and architects often see themselves as pioneers and experimental researchers for possible developments in the coming digitized cities. By presenting various examples by selected artists like Corrie Francis Parks, Pablo Valbuena and Robert Seidel, the role of animation in connection with an alternative approach to the concepts of augmented realities within this process of social and urban evolution will be discussed. These artists try to integrate digital content into the cityscape in a harmonious sense.

Inclusive Adaptation of Existing Board Games for Gamers with and without Visual Impairments using a Spatial Augmented Reality Framework for Touch Detection and Audio Feedback

Board games allow us to share collective entertainment experiences. They entertain because of the interactions between players, physical manipulation of tokens and decision making. Unfortunately, most board games exclude people with visual impairments as they were not initially designed for players with special needs. Through a user-centered design process with an accessible game library and visually impaired players, we observed challenges and solutions in making existing board games accessible through handcrafted solutions (tactile stickers, braille labels, etc.). In a second step, we used Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR), to make existing board games inclusive by adding interactivity (GameARt). In a case study with an existing board game considered as not accessible (Jamaica), we designed an interactive SAR version with touch detection (JamaicAR). We evaluated this prototype in a user study with 5 groups of 3 players each, including sighted, low vision and blind players. All players, independent of visual status, were able to play the Augmented Reality game. Moreover, the game was rated positively by all players regarding attractiveness, play engrossment, enjoyment and social connectivity. Our work shows that Spatial Augmented Reality has the potential to make board games accessible to people with visual impairments when handcrafted adaptations fall short.

A New Paradigm for the Enjoyment and Exploitation of Cultural Heritage Based on Spatial Augmented Reality: The Case of the Ducal Palace of Urbino

In the last years, museums have begun to apply new technological solutions to manage their exhibits in a more open, inclusive, and creative way, to improve the visitors’ experience to respond to the need to expand the audience. The main goal is to face the increasing competition in an economy referred to as the “Experience Economy”. To this end, Augmented Reality technology seems to represent a good solution for museum guide systems, to improve visitors’ learning and enjoyment. In this context, the present paper proposes a museum guide system based on Spatial Augmented Reality powered by dynamic projection. The paper describes the overall HW and SW system architecture and reports in detail the developed process adopted to design and implement a museum guide and entertainment application, in the context of the “Studiolo of Federico da Montefeltro” in the Ducal Palace of Urbino. A preliminary survey has been carried out, which involved a total of 79 subjects, aimed at investigating the quality of visitor’s experience, aroused by the proposed application, in terms of the “Four Experience Realms” defined by Pine & Gilmore (1998). Results suggest that the proposed application can be used to stage experiences that satisfy the visitors and may help to enable museums into the Experience Economy.