Developments on Augmented Reality Browser

Augmented Reality Browser part of the project was extremly interesting. It brought many developments and thoughts about how to provide guidance to cemetery visitors. Within ARTOUR application we have developed guides through 5 pilot cemeteries. These cemeteries are now listed as well in the ARTOUR website under Memorial park stories.

Any visitor that is in the cemetery, can open the application and the guide for that cemetery will be the first one listed. Application checks the current position of the user and shows the nearest route. If cemetery has more routes (famous people, architectual route, symbolic route), application will list all the routes.

Application will first list all the points in the route. If user is on wi-fi connection, points will be synchronized to the device so user can then use the application offline. This is important since many visitors, especially in bigger cemeteries, are foreigners that might face big charges if data is downloaded through mobile connection.

We have learned from current usage that it is most important first point to be some "welcome" or introduction where user learns few basic details about the cemetery or route specifics.

When user clicks on details of any point, application will list details (text, photos, videos, links) and button to open the map mode and show the point in the map.

Within details, we have learned from usage that descriptions must be written very different than we are used to. In most descriptions, content is written in a manner like user is reading them on a computer screen on the internet.

Mobile usage is very different so it is important that points and details are described as standing there. Descriptions must be focused on visual interpretation of what the person sees when standing there.

In map mode, application ARTOUR provides regular possibilities, like zoom, 3D views and some optional layers. These options are initially hidden from users, mostly because they represent visual disturbance and are not needed when visiting the cemetery.

As we have learned from the usage, map in 3D drawing mode seems to be most useful since it provides easy to understand position of the user and the points to be visited.

Augmented Reality mode is the most intriguing yet hard to achieve aspect of mobile guiding. Especially in the cemeteries, it prooved to request much more developments, both on technical as well as especially on content design.

As explained in Augmented Reality in tourism post on application website, augmented reality currently provides following issues:

• it is not socially acceptable to walk around the cemetery with your mobile device in front of your face;
• phsyical usage is not easy as you need to hold the mobile device in front of your face;
• batteries of most devices today are not ready to provide long time AR experience;
• content is not of much additional value when seen "through the screen";

Yet, with some adaptations, in near future we have many possible usage examples. Therefore we must plan that in next phase of the content and application developemnts, we provide some hotspots in the routes, where users can benefit from augmented reality mode.

These hotspots are for example:

• open areas where user stands in centre and some points are around him within 20 to 50m range;
• large monuments (buildings, big statues) which have different details that could be recognized by device camera and are interesting in their content;
• already recognized monuments in Google Goggles application, stored within their database or wikipedia and simmilar webservices;

Especially on the latter case, we need to focus on participation of content professionals (architects, historians) with application developers and content editors.


We can conclude that the project brought many interesting findings and will contribute to further developments of the application, as well as the content. It was agreed with application developers to expand content with some new free routes at the pilot cemeteries and follow usage. With further developments, pilot cemeteries, as well as other interested cemeteries in ASCE will try to provide more suitable content and thus benefit users and monitor their usage.