Smart environments for cultural heritage

This paper outlines a vision of Smart Environments for Cultural

Heritage. The concept draws on research in an area variously

known as Ubiquitous Computing, Pervasive Computing or

Ambient Intelligence, which is recognized as one of the current

grand challenges for computer science. Smart environments

depend on communication and cooperation between numerous

devices, sensor networks, servers in the fixed infrastructure and

the increasing number of mobile devices carried by people. By

adapting their behaviour to shared contextual information,

applications may provide information and services tailored to

their users’ immediate needs.

Location is a key ingredient and many potential applications will

rely on the fusion of multiple spatial models based on

containment, proximity or relative positioning, as well as

conventional absolute positioning. Applications in the Cultural

Heritage domain range from field survey and excavation,

through analysis and interpretation, conservation and

preservation, to public presentation. Indeed, the domain has

already proved to be a popular test bed for several experimental

systems.

The approach is illustrated using FieldMap, a tool designed

primarily for capturing and sharing archaeological and other

data in the field, but which contains components that are

applicable to a wider range of CH uses. This wider applicability

arises because FieldMap is an application of the MobiComp

ubiquitous computing infrastructure. MobiComp has been

designed to support the capture, sharing and re-use of contextual

information across a wide range of mobile and networked

devices.