SBIR Phase I: Site Toolkit for Augmented Reality Exhibits: Bringing Easy-To-Use Augmented Reality to Open Air Museum Sites

该SBIR第一阶段项目为露天文化遗产和环境教育网站提供工具和方法，以部署基于增强现实(AR)的展品。AR是一项成熟的技术，可以将教育材料带入生活。然而，博物馆行业一直无法充分挖掘其潜力，因为AR安装在技术上具有挑战性，需要购买昂贵的硬件，并使用高技能的技术人员来创建和部署内容。该项目提供了一个软件工具套件，旨在使文化遗产和环境教育网站能够比目前更快、更容易、更具成本效益地创建和部署AR展品。使用这些工具开发的AR展品将使机构能够在部署传统解释性内容极其困难的地点部署具有吸引力的虚拟展品和动态的基于地理空间的内容。这反过来将为NSF资助的研究项目提供以及时和易于部署的方式向公众传播其最新研究成果的能力。使增强现实的实际应用将带来更多吸引人的展品，产生更大的参观者热情和学习，这反过来将产生更多的参观者，更多的捐赠，并在博物馆行业内创造专注于发展增强现实展览的就业机会。该项目将产生内容创建和观看软件，以及旨在提供具有成本效益的增强现实(AR)展品的创建、部署和维护的商业模式。该工具包将由四个技术组件组成：运行在iOS和Android上的移动观看应用程序、内容交付服务器、旨在监控展览使用的基于网络的展览智能工具，以及具有创作和检查材料的自动化功能的基于网络的内容创作系统。商业模式旨在使AR展品的收入保持中性，或通过分享观众应用程序销售产生的收入来盈利。这些因素共同创造了一种在露天博物馆实施增强现实的新方法，旨在克服限制这些机构实际使用增强现实的主要问题。该项目的第一阶段将集中开发移动查看器应用程序和展览智能工具。还将开发一个原型展览以供第二阶段测试。为该展览创建内容所获得的经验将指导在第二阶段开发的内容创建软件的要求和界面。

This SBIR Phase I project provides tools and methods for open air cultural heritage and environmental education sites to deploy augmented reality (AR) based exhibits. AR is an established technology that can bring educational material to life. However, the museum industry has been unable to tap into its full potential because AR installations are technically challenging to implement, requiring the purchase of expensive hardware and use of highly skilled technical staff to create and deploy the content. This project provides a software tool suite designed to enable cultural heritage and environmental education sites to more quickly, easily, and cost-effectively create and deploy AR exhibits than is currently possible. AR exhibits developed using these tools will enable institutions to deploy engaging virtual exhibits with dynamic geospatially-based content at locations in which deploying traditional interpretive content is extremely difficult. This in turn will provide NSF funded research projects with the ability to disseminate their latest research results to the public in a timely and easily deployable fashion. Making AR use practical will lead to more engaging exhibits, generating greater visitor enthusiasm and learning which will, in turn, produce more visitors, larger donations, and create jobs within the Museum industry focused on developing AR exhibits.This project will produce content creation and viewing software and a business model designed to provide cost effective creation, deployment, and maintenance of Augmented Reality (AR) exhibits. The toolkit will be comprised of four technological components: a mobile viewer application running on iOS and Android, a content delivery server, a web based exhibit intelligence tool designed to monitor the use of the exhibit, and a web based content creation system with automated functions for authoring and checking material. The business model is designed to make AR exhibits revenue neutral or profit generating by sharing the income generated from the viewer application sales. Together these elements create a new approach to implementing augmented reality in open air museums that is designed to overcome the major issues limiting the practical use of AR by these institutions. Phase I of this project will concentrate on the development of the mobile viewer application and the exhibit intelligence tool. A prototype exhibit will also be developed for testing in Phase II. The experience gained from creating the content for this exhibit will guide the requirements and interface of the content creation software to be developed in Phase II.