My name is Ioannis and I am from Greece, where I live my experience as an IVY volunteer. The project I volunteer for is called ”HERMES” and we are working with virtual reality – augmented reality, cultural heritage, theater and music. More specifically this period, we work with virtual reality and augmented reality applications.
Archaeological sites and museums are places that collect, document, display and preserve creations of art and science where members of a society can learn, research, and make connections between the present, the past, and the future.
The Interreg ‘’HERMES’’ project aims to interact with collaborating partners and to approach the curiosity of visitors-tourists to archaeological sites and museums with the use of innovative IT tools. AR and VR are reality technologies that either enhance or replace a real-life environment with a simulated one. The Mobile app was designed and developed for Android devices and provides the following:
- The history of the castle of Arta city through an interactive book (text, photos, sound, and 3D models);
- 3D reconstruction of the castle (rotate, zooming, panning);
- Points of interest of the castle;
- AR functionalities.
If you are interested in checking out the “Hermes” app, you can download it at this link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Hermes.AR
The virtual reality application was designed and developed for VR Headsets (testing with Oculus Quest 2) and provides the following:
- Virtual Tour inside the Castle of Arta;
- Interactive Virtual Learning with Game (quiz, puzzles, etc.);
- Multilanguage (Greek, English).
Some of my duties are to collect panoramic footage of the castle of Arta with the help of a drone; also, I help with technical features, supporting the programming part, and, finally, I help with the promotion of the project: I’m often in contact with European tourists and I show them the VR application so that they can use it themselves.
I am very happy for my participation in this project as a volunteer, because I
managed to combine IT technology with the cultural aspects of the local community. I hope that I will continue to volunteer and to contribute as much as I can to the promotion of cultural heritage throughout Europe, with the help of technology.
– Ioannis, IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Project Hermes, under the programme Interreg Greece – Italy, at the University of Ioannina