3D Heritage on Mobile Devices: Scenarios and Opportunities

The cultural heritage sector’s interest in mobile and 3D technologies has increased in recent years. This is partly because heritage organisations have a large amount of compelling content – much of which simply cannot be displayed in physical museums and other venues because of space constraints. Consequently, mobile technology represents an exceptional opportunity for the sector to offer innovative approaches for individuals to interact with cultural heritage assets. This paper presents visions for exploiting 3D mobile technologies in the cultural heritage sector by employing a use-inspired basic research approach based on hypothetical scenarios. These scenarios focus on different fields such as archaeology, preservation, education and tourism. Moreover, the paper examines the opportunities required to address the challenges in several research areas, including 3D technology, semantically linked data, crowdsourcing as well as privacy and copyright. Finally, the paper acknowledges the challenges involved on ensuring the business sustainability of these innovative applications.