CREATING AN IMPROVED AND IMMERSIVE VISITOR EXPERIENCE FOR MUSEUMS. COMPLEMENTING EXTENDED REALITY EXHIBITS WITH CUSTOM EXHIBIT CREATION

• Autor(a) principal: Nunes, Tiago João Ferreira
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/164246
• topic: Virtual Reality; Augmented Reality; Extended Reality; Digital Twin; Museology; Object Manipulation; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Eletrotécnica, Eletrónica e Informática

Visiting museums or other spaces of cultural interest may prove to be prohibitive due to numerous factors, such as health problems, distance, mobility issues or schedule incompatibility. As such, there is a need to develop virtual alternatives to on-site visits, as well as to improve the experience of said visits through the addition of virtual elements, which provide functionalities that would otherwise be impossible to experience. On the other hand, it is also necessary to implement a platform that facilitates the creation of complete exhibitions by curators and staff of cultural institutions. This is because existing tools suffer from some usability and ease of use problems, and are not suitable for a more generic domain. This is a challenging problem, as it concerns the merging of several software components to create a complex system. Additionally, it is also necessary to develop a modular and adaptable solution that can be used in multiple cultural institutions, regardless of their context. This thesis proposes the creation of such a solution, which would allow users to interact with works on display in an innovative and immersive way, as well as help to promote museums and organize visits. The solution seeks to expand an existing system, consisting of a Virtual Reality (VR) Application, an Augmented Reality (AR) application and an administrative Desktop application. The work carried out during the duration of this thesis consisted of the implementation of a navigation aid, in the form of a "mini-map", as well as an additional interface where users can navigate, search, and locate works within the exhibition. An advanced editor was also developed within the desktop application, which allows curators to manipulate and import personalized objects in order to compose complete exhibitions that can be viewed in the VR application. The work also included the design and development of the components to be added, as well as the overall evaluation of the system through tests with system users and domain experts. This evaluation made it possible to draw positive conclusions regarding the developed system, as well as identify areas for potential future improvements.