ARCHAEORAMA: Proposing a multimodal application for the documentation of archaeological excavations in situ

Abstract

The age we live in is the age of the technological revolution: the social networks, virtual communities, 3D worlds, digital applications, immersive and collaborative games, are able to change our perception of the world as well as the way information is shared and transmitted. The shift of our society towards new technologies has greatly facilitated the integration of these technologies (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Photogrammetry, etc.) in places such as archaeology, which in the past seemed like a very difficult idea. In recent years, archaeologists have begun to incorporate new technologies that can assist them in archaeological excavations. Such technologies include 3D Imaging Surveying methods (LiDAR, Mobile and Terrestrial 3D Scanners), Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Photogrammetry as well as 3D Visualization Methods (Virtual and Augmented Reality) for the three-dimensional or two-dimensional display of sites where archaeological excavations are carried out. A big advantage of new technologies is the highly increasing capabilities and user friendliness over cost ratio, which encourages archaeologists to enter the emerging realm of Digital Archaeology. In this article we aim to present you our proposal on an application that will be a powerful tool in the hands of archaeologists during the excavations. This paper aims to present to you the structure and the methodology that we have followed for the creation of the ARCHAEORAMA.