Embracing new technology with Heritage in Motion 2021 winners: Underwater Augmented Reality (UWAR)

In autumn 2021, Europeana was proud to be part of the international jury for the annual and prestigious Heritage in Motion awards, run by Europa Nostra and the European Museum Academy.  In this theme, we talk to the 2021 award winners and find out how the cultural heritage sector is using new digital technologies in their inspiring projects.

Today, Fabio Bruno and Marco Cozza tell us about Underwater Augmented Reality (UWAR), which received a ‘Special Mention’ in 2021. 

Tell us a little bit about your winning project

Divy is a system for divers that supports navigation and exploration through an underwater tablet coupled with an underwater navigation system. It includes a visualisation of a map of the underwater site that shows their position within the submerged site, the possibility to acquire geo-localised data, the visualisation of additional information about specific points of interest, and communication with the surface operators through an underwater messaging system. 

The most engaging feature of Divy is its Underwater Augmented Reality (UWAR), which delivers divers a new and more immersive experience than a classic recreational dive. The AR allows the diver to view  hypothetical reconstructions of structures and artefacts in an underwater archaeological site, superimposing them and showing how the archaeological remains appeared in the past.

3D Research Srl started developing this idea in 2014, when, thanks to a national project, we started to work on an underwater tablet. We wanted to overcome two of the biggest issues of underwater exploration: low visibility conditions that lead to less understanding of the underwater environment, and the fact that it’s impossible to use (Global Navigation Satellite System) sensors to locate divers underwater, as their signals are absorbed in water only a few centimetres below sea level.  

We created a custom mobile application that works as an underwater navigator, giving divers several features to support the exploration of an underwater site. We improved its features through several European research projects. Then, within iMARECulture, we developed the UWAR feature, which has been successfully tested in the Underwater Archaeological Park of Baiae, located in the volcanic area of the Phlegrean Fields, a few kilometres North of Naples (Italy).

Divy and the UWAR system represent an innovative way to support divers while exploring underwater cultural heritage sites.

What did using digital media/technology make possible for this project?

The project relies on augmented reality technologies to provide divers with an innovative and immersive experience, enabling them to visualise a 3D hypothesis that depicts how the ancient ruins in the underwater archaeological site could have appeared in the past. The diver can activate the UWAR feature for specific AR zones that are displayed as an overlay over a map of the underwater site. They can switch between the visualisation representing the actual conditions of the ancient ruins in the underwater site and the hypothetical 3D reconstruction of how the site appeared in the past.

The diver can choose between a top-view visualisation and a first-person view. The top-view is especially useful for orienting in the underwater environment whereas the first-person allows them to fully enjoy the AR view. While in AR mode and first-person view, the user can move around the tablet, rolling and pitching, to change the point-of-view of the camera.

How have your audiences reacted to this project?

The system has been deployed in different underwater cultural heritage sites where several recreational and technical divers had the opportunity to use it. They enjoyed their time and claimed that these kinds of solutions have great potential in underwater archaeology and tourism. In particular, they found the interaction with the AR feature natural and they found the experience very engaging. Experts think that this technology could be very useful for professionals too, supporting surveys and documentation of underwater cultural heritage sites.

What have you learned about working with digital cultural heritage from this project?

Due to water turbidity and biological colonisation, pictures taken in the submerged environment seem to be hazy, in a similar way as when landscape photos are degraded by haze, fog or smoke. It was challenging to develop the UWAR feature dealing with underwater environmental conditions. We had to employ different techniques and implement different solutions to overcome all the challenges faced during the realisation of the Underwater Augmented Reality. In particular, we developed an innovative hybrid tracking solution that merges data coming from the acoustic navigation system and the internal sensors of the tablet to improve the localisation of the diver. 

This project gave us the possibility to make further progress in underwater AR technology applied to cultural heritage, by providing a useful tool for tourist divers. What’s more, we had the chance to collaborate with experts to create the virtual hypothetical reconstructions of the sites and to collect their feedback to further improve our solution.

What difference does winning an award like this make to your project/future work?

Achieving a special mention in the Heritage in Motion Award made us realise that our UWAR technology can be attractive not only for experienced divers but also for a wider audience of occasional divers or even for users that have never experienced a dive in an underwater archaeological site. It makes us feel very proud of the effort our team put into the whole project, in studying, analysing, designing, developing and testing this innovative solution to improve divers’ experience.

We believe that new technologies can enhance accessibility and valorisation of underwater cultural heritage, as well as raise awareness about the vast maritime heritage that the Mediterranean Sea holds. So, we will continue work on this topic, with the aim to make underwater cultural heritage accessible to everyone.

We would like to thank all the partners of the iMARECulture project and all those who contributed to achieving this result.

Disclaimer

The UWAR App has been developed within the framework of the iMARECulture project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 727153.

Content provider: Ministero della Cultura, Istituto Centrale per il restauro

Permission to publish data (3D site, 3D finds, photos and video): Ministero della Cultura, Istituto Centrale per il restauro, Parco Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei