An IoT-Enabled Information System for Smart Navigation in Museums

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a new paradigm that connects objects to provide seamless communication and contextual information to anyone, anywhere, at any time (AAA). These Internet-of-Things-enabled automated objects interact with visitors to present a variety of information during museum navigation and exploration. In this article, a smart navigation and information system (SNIS) prototype for museum navigation and exploration is developed, which delivers an interactive and more exciting museum exploration experience based on the visitor’s personal presence. The objects inside a museum share the information that assist and navigate the visitors about the different sections and objects of the museum. The system was deployed inside Chakdara Museum and experimented with 381 users to achieve the results. For results, different users marked the proposed system in terms of parameters such as interesting, reality, ease of use, satisfaction, usefulness, and user friendly. Of these 381 users, 201 marked the system as most interesting, 138 marked most realistic, 121 marked it as easy-in-use, 219 marked it useful, and 210 marked it as user friendly. These statistics prove the efficiency of SNIS and its usefulness in smart cultural heritage, including smart museums, exhibitions and cultural sites.

Development of tourist destinations in the context of Ukraine's participation in the program of the cultural routes of the council of Europe

The purpose of the article is to analyze the existing Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, to explore the historical and cultural connection of these routes with tourist destinations and cultural monuments of Ukraine, to identify those tracks of the Council of Europe to which our country can connect. The methodology involves the treatment of general scientific and special methods, including comparative, analytical, synthesis methods, historical and cultural systems. The scientific novelty of the article is the study of key links between European cultural routes and local historical and cultural sites; in forming a list of cultural routes which possess grounds to be joined for Ukrainian tourist destinations, museums, etc. Conclusions. In the XXI century, the development of tourist destinations, in particular, and tourism as a socio-cultural phenomenon, in general, is correlated with several global factors. One of the mentioned circumstances is the pan-European cultural process, including cultural programs successfully implemented by the Council of Europe. Ukraine has joined only three routes out of the 45 certified European cultural paths. At the same time, according to the study, our country can already apply for active participation in 18 relevant cultural and tourist routes related to the history and culture of Ukraine. Another 11 routes require additional research as well as historical and cultural studies. Joining the above-mentioned Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe will contribute a powerful stimulus for the development of tourist destinations, the formation of advanced models of cultural tourism, the improvement of historical and cultural monuments as well as the intensification of scientific research in the particular field. Key words: cultural tourism, state policy, cultural routes, tourist destinations, interrelation of cultures.

COVID-19 and Tourism in Pokhara: Strategies for Industry’s Recovery

Tourism is considered as travel related activities. Pokhara has many attractions for tourists including lakes, hills, religious and cultural sites. The presence of Phewa Lake in the west, Begnas Lake in the east attracts a large number of domestic and international tourists. The main objective of this study is to explore the impact of COVID-19 on tourism of Pokhara. Altogether 120 samples were taken purposively in the major touristic areas of Pokhara. Interviews were taken with key informants and the observation technique was also used. The obtained data were discussed in the form of table, charts and figures. The number of tourists visiting Pokhara is found decreasing over the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. High quality hotels are only in the Phewa Lake area whereas there are very few quality hotels in the study area, so quality hotels with better facilities should be established in other areas, too. New tourism activities need to be explored and after the operation of international airport, the option for the present paragliding spots need to be managed in time. To minimize the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, there should be a provision of easy refinancing facilities from the financial institutions to be provided to the tourism entrepreneurs, including subsidies on the equated monthly instalments and decreasing the interest rate and quick vaccination to the people involved in tourism sectors.

Integrated High-Definition Visualization of Digital Archives for Borobudur Temple

The preservation and analysis of tangible cultural heritage sites have attracted enormous interest worldwide. Recently, establishing three-dimensional (3D) digital archives has emerged as a critical strategy for the permanent preservation and digital analysis of cultural sites. For extant parts of cultural sites, 3D scanning is widely used for efficient and accurate digitization. However, in many historical sites, many parts that have been damaged or lost by natural or artificial disasters are unavailable for 3D scanning. The remaining available data sources for these destroyed parts are photos, computer-aided design (CAD) drawings, written descriptions, etc. In this paper, we achieve an integrated digital archive of a UNESCO World Heritage site, namely, the Borobudur temple, in which buried reliefs and internal foundations are not available for 3D scanning. We introduce a digitizing framework to integrate three different kinds of data sources and to create a unified point-cloud-type digital archive. This point-based integration enables us to digitally record the entire 3D structure of the target cultural heritage site. Then, the whole site is visualized by stochastic point-based rendering (SPBR) precisely and comprehensibly. The proposed framework is widely applicable to other large-scale cultural sites.

Basic criteria for the formation of use-restricted zones in general system of territorial planning

One of the areas of land management in territorial formations is the establishment of a special legal regime for their use. The main purpose of this research is precisely the comprehensive analysis of legal and social environment in order to create special-condition zones for the use of territories. Deductive, inductive, analytical, comparative legal and other scientific methods have been applied. This article identified a diversified nature that regulates the process of establishing zones under consideration and, besides, specifics of their parameters and restrictions to be imposed. The documentation setting out such parameters for each zone to be established was examined, and the interrelation between the features of the objects and the configuration of their protection zones was established. The greatest emphasis was placed on differentiating the conditions for the formation zones in two ways: in the process of integrated development of territories and in the creation of conditions for the protection of those sites that are already in use. As a result, it was revealed how the establishment of special-condition zones for the use of territories influences the content of urban planning documentation. In the first case, such a procedure is carried out during the planning phase of allocation of engineering and transport infrastructure. In the second case, zoning is carried out in order to bring the legal regime of previously commissioned infrastructure elements or natural and historical-cultural sites into compliance with current legal norms. However, in both cases there is an inextricable link to the territorial planning system.

Humanism and the Great Opportunity of Intelligent User Interfaces for Cultural Heritage

In the spirit of the modern meaning of the word humanism, if technology aims at the flourishing of humans, it is of the greatest value to empower each human being with the capability of appreciating culture, in an inclusive, individual-adaptive manner. In particular, in this brief chapter, the case is made for the opportunity that intelligent user interfaces can offer specifically in the area of culture, beyond the obvious infrastructural advantages we are all familiar with. Insight is provided on research aimed at the continuous personal enriching of individuals at cultural sites, approaching the ancient humanistic vision of connecting us to our cultural past, now made possible for all, not just for an elite.

Using virtual reality to enhances efforts for introduce cultural heritage

At present, cultural heritage is in a dangerous condition and it is all influenced by several factors such as natural disasters and man-made disasters. For example, in Indonesia in March 2018 there was a destruction of the Dayak Indigenous Sites whose cases were damaged due to human factors, not to mention talking about the destruction of damaged cultural sites such as in several countries such as Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan & Indonesia. The use of technology-based Virtual Reality (VR) in maintaining cultural heritage is very important because the identity that is in cultural heritage is the foundation of evidence of human life in the past. Threats in the form of human behavior and natural disasters have an impact of erasing historical and cultural traces which could threaten a nation in relation to the main national interests of a country. Maximizing the benefits of technological advancements by using Virtual Reality as an alternative to preserve cultural heritage & cultural exploration, this utilization can lower the cost of study of cultural exploration such as exploration of cultural heritage locations that are far especially in transport costs.