Enhancing User Experience of Cultural Heritage using Immersive Technology

Cultural Heritage (CH) is an identity of any group (community or tribe). It provides a sense of bindings and belongingness amongst a group and allows them to have a better understanding of their previous generations and traditional evolutionary history. Cultural Heritage also promotes tourism and acts as a means of cultural exchange between groups. However, traditional preservation methods (museum, live tour with written description) of CH have failed to attract individuals, especially the younger generation. Moreover, restricted access to real-world heritage inhibits users' complete understanding of it. These motivated researchers to digitize the Cultural Heritage to preserve them as well as to attract individuals. The digitization of CH can be achieved using archiving technologies and immersive technologies (Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality). Three types of users are considered: Live Tour Users (smart-glass, in-situ), Virtual Tour Users (HMD, remote), and Mobile Tour Users (smartphones/tablets). The main focus is to give a user the experience of sensing realism and allow users to interact with the virtual world using controllers or body gestures.