Augmented reality-based on-site tour guide: A study in Gyeongbokgung

Abstract

This paper presents an on-site tour guide using augmented reality in which past life is virtually reproduced and visualized at cultural heritage sites. In the tour guide, animated 3-D virtual characters are superimposed on the cultural heritage sites by visually tracking simple geometric primitives of the sites such as rectangles and estimating camera poses (positions and orientations) that can be considered as a tourist's viewpoints. Contextual information, such as a tourist's locations and profiles, is used to support personalized tour guides. In particular, the tourist's locations are obtained by visually recognizing wooden tablets of the cultural heritage sites. The prototype of the augmented reality tour guide was tested at Gangnyeongjeon and Gyotaejeon in Gyeongbokgung, which is a symbolic cultural heritage site in Korea and its user evaluation is discussed.