Mixed Reality Makes History Come Alive
Soon, we will be able to see historical places and events as they were in past centuries through our smartphones or data glasses.
"When creating applications for tourism, also the natural conditions have also be taken into consideration." The researchers got a first hand experience of this when demonstrating a virtual model by the river Aura in Turku on the 8th of March, 2013. Photograph: Seppo Helle
Researchers at the University of Turku are developing mixed reality applications for presenting and recreating historical places and events in a project called Futuristic History. The aim is to create easy-to-use applications for smart phones, tablets, and other devices, which could virtually put destroyed buildings back in the scenery as they once were, for example.
The researchers say Turku is the perfect city for the project.
‒ There are a lot of interesting historical places in Turku. A good example of using mixed reality in recreating a historical site could be adding the first ever bridge to cross the river Aura, a very famous one locally, to the scenery of today, explains Project Leader Teijo Lehtonen.
True Experiences Based on Scientific Knowledge
There are already technologies for projecting historic sceneries on a screen of a device while a user is capturing real life scenery with the built-in camera. The user sees the sceneries on top of each other. This is mixed reality.
As devices and software solutions develop, it will be possible to place virtual characters to the scenery to serve as guides and to dramatise historic events. This will, for example, make possible to watch a town change throughout the centuries.
‒ A person could be walking about the town of Turku and observe how the Great Fire in 1827 affected the townscape.
The applications are developed in close cooperation with the School of History, Culture and Arts Studies.
‒ We have been working on a pilot project and visualising a church from the 16th and 17th century found in the city centre. The historians have been searching for information on the church in archives in Turku and Stockholm. Without the work they have done we would be only guessing!
New Purposes for Game Technologies
Mixed reality is not far away from the shop shelves, but there are still many technical problems to solve. How to seamlessly and believably add virtual parts to the real world? How to erase something that doesn’t belong to a certain era?
‒ At the moment, most of the mixed reality applications have to do with games. However, the same technical solutions can be used in many other purposes, too. It is important that the applications used in historical attractions are easy to use ‒ in many occations the users are first-timers.
The researchers believe that making good use of mixed reality technologies and high knowhow in virtual environments could give a boost to businesses both locally and nationally, and generate a lot of new business, too.
‒ Do we have a new Finnish field of knowhow in our hands? they wonder.
Tekes is funding the project, and it is implemented in co-operation with VTT Technical Research Center of Finland. In addition, many local and national businesses and public organisations are involved adding expertise on ICT, travel and museum sectors.
>> Futuristic History webpages
Text: Taru Suhonen
Photographs: Kuvat: Hanna Oksanen, Seppo Helle