iTacitus - Intelligent Tourism and Cultural Information through Ubiquitous Services
iTACITUS investigated new methods for representing historical sites virtually and developed mobile technologies for dynamic, user-directed support to visitors.
- Project type: STREP (Specific Targeted Research Project)
- Start date: 1 September 2006
- Duration: 32 months
- EU funding: € 1 350 000
- Number of partners: 6
- Project coordinator: BMT Group Ltd., UK
- Contact: Mr. Rory Doyle
iTACITUS provides a bespoke experience for the individual cultural traveller, based upon a dispersed repository of cultural (e.g. historical, scientific and archaeological) resources, enabling both location-based and context-based interface paired with location-independent services.
The services provided include audio-visual, mixed reality and virtual reality organisational components, and are delivered in a flexible and timely fashion. The system is based on an advanced user interface on mobile devices that supports image recognition and the capability of using any available hardware interface: WiFi, Bluetooth, UMTS/GPRS or infrared interfacing.
The system provides a virtual context that supports knowledge conceptualisation, thus making the available cultural resources reusable and integrable into new conceptual contexts. With an equipment of this kind a user is able to locate, without a direct access to search engines, and to find information that is likely to be useful in his present cultural context.
iTACITUS also suggests an active approach to cultural heritage by integrating individual real-time experiences and thus contributes to narrowing the gap between the expert researcher in the cultural field and the cultured and informed visitor. The framework is also designed for reusing available digital material integrating additional, often complex new information.
The work was carried out by six partners, combining expertise in the fields of artificial intelligence, distributed architecture and infrastructure management, VR and AR systems and content provision, as well as end users in different cultural environments.