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

SBIR第一阶段项目为露天文化遗产和环境教育场所提供了部署基于增强现实（AR）的展品的工具和方法。AR是一种成熟的技术，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速，更轻松，更经济高效地创建和部署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方部署具有动态地理空间内容的虚拟展品。这反过来将为NSF资助的研究项目提供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。增强现实技术的实际应用将带来更多的展品，激发更多的参观者的热情和学习，从而产生更多的参观者，更大的捐赠，并在专注于开发增强现实展品的博物馆行业创造就业机会。该项目将产生内容创建和查看软件以及旨在提供成本效益的增强现实（AR）展品创建，部署和维护的商业模式。该工具包将由四个技术部分组成：一个在iOS和Android上运行的移动的浏览器应用程序、一个内容传送服务器、一个旨在监测展览使用情况的网上展览情报工具，以及一个具有自动编写和检查材料功能的网上内容创建系统。该商业模式旨在通过分享查看器应用程序销售产生的收入，使AR展览收入中性或产生利润。这些元素共同创造了一种在露天博物馆中实施增强现实的新方法，旨在克服限制这些机构实际使用AR的主要问题。该项目的第一阶段将集中开发移动的浏览器应用程序和展览情报工具。还将开发一个原型展览，供第二阶段测试。从为这次展览制作内容中获得的经验将指导第二阶段开发的内容制作软件的要求和界面。

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.