The mission of the industrial research and experimental development project OR.C.HE.S.T.R.A. (ORganization of Cultural Health and Smart Tourism and Real-time Accessibility) has been to develop, for both tourists and residents, a set of technological solutions aimed at enhancing the cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, of the historical center of Naples in a perspective at the same time smart and integrated with the objectives of sustainability and eco-compatibility. The project was funded by the Italian Ministry for University and Research (MIUR) within the 2007-2013 PON call.
SITE:
http://www.orchestrasmartnapoli.it/site1/index.php
START DATE: November 2012
END DATE: November 2015
Within the research project, the Institute for High-Performance Computing and Networking of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ICAR) has developed two prototypes oriented to the “intelligent” enhancement of the cultural heritage, both material and immaterial, of Campania region, with particular reference to the city of Naples aiming at their use and enjoyment by citizens, visitors, and tourists.
In particular:
- The “Smart Glasses” application is a system for virtual navigation among context information, concerning places and monuments of interest, that are proposed to the user, through Augmented Reality (AR) technologies. The application exploits a first prototype of a wearable AR device and a gesture interface based on the use of a cheap depth camera and of inertial sensors. This interface has been realized by following a user-centric approach, investigating the user’s reactions to the presentation of information levels superimposed on the scene that is displayed in augmented reality. The goal is to allow users to walk through what is the material cultural heritage of the city, i.e. buildings and monuments, and at the same time to view and manipulate information through a minimally invasive interface.
- The “Electronic Guide for Ancient Naples – (GENnArì)” application is a Personalized Electronic Tour Guide (PETG) whose purpose is to plan a personalized visit to the Ancient Center of Naples on a mobile device, both in Android environment and in iOS environment. The aim is to provide the user, be it a citizen of Naples or a tourist, with a personalized route that may consider her/his art interests, the time available for the visit, specific requests both for visiting some sites and for carrying out breaks, its possible mobility impairments, the opening and closing times of the sites, waiting and visiting times, and finally the weather. The aspect related to the personalization of the itinerary for the specific user on the basis of her/his specific interests is the fundamental one: all other conditions being equal, different itineraries may be suggested to users with different interests. The identification of the optimal path for a user is carried out through an advanced Artificial Intelligence algorithm, that is, a multi-objective Differential Evolution algorithm, also able to manage constraints.
The experimentation activity has had as its main purpose to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithms realized. Particular attention has been paid to the usability of the applications and to their user interfaces, since these latter are a crucial point in the implementation of a software system.
Both applications were presented at the Humanities Research Library (BRAU) in Naples, giving residents and tourists the opportunity to test them live. Each user was provided with an evaluation questionnaire to express their opinions on ease of use and understanding, quality of design, efficiency, attractiveness, and satisfaction of results. The results of the evaluation were extremely positive. Furthermore, to distribute the “GENnArì” app, a page was prepared on the official website of the OR.C.HE.S.T.R.A. project, with a link to the download.
More about Gennarì
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