Abstract

Context. Many applications exist that combine Augmented Reality and Cultural Heritage, as both fields seem to be made for one another. Most approaches only work indoors, since outdoor conditions are much more challenging for visual approaches. There is a complete absence of open source solutions. Therefore the goal of this project is to build an open-source application that uses augmented reality to enhance sightseeing, by precisely overlaying content over real world objects, e.g. monuments, buildings, gardens, ruins or other sites of interest. Method. We use real-time visual localization, enabled through a state-of-the-art structure from motion algorithms to superimpose content over arbitrary objects. For demonstrating and testing our approach, we chose the Sendlinger Gate in Munich, where we overlay historical and contemporary content, in form of images. Results. We created a well-functioning application working very reliable and stable even under varying weather or seasonal conditions. Our App ENSE (Enhance Sightseeing) is designed to augment the real time experience of sightseeing by superimposing content – previously created by experts – over the object, thus allowing access to former realities, shapes and stories of the site from different timelines. It can be combined with additional text-based information. Due to Covid-19 and the associated curfews, we had to make some cutbacks when testing the app. However, ENSE is set up in a way, that it is easily understandable and reusable. The aim was to develop an open source tool, easy to use and hopefully to be developed further by other researchers, museums, project managers etc. when developing 'new ways of seeing' of our cultural heritage.

Project Setup

Demo and Tutorial Videos:

Codebase:

Internal (Condition as at handover) : https://gitlab.lrz.de/ga65coy/ense

Public (Might be adjusted in the future) : https://gitlab.com/KehnelP/ense 

Thesis:

Slides:

Comming soon.