3D MODELLING AND MAPPING FOR VIRTUAL EXPLORATION OF UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY ASSETS

This paper investigates immersive technologies to increase exploration time in an underwater archaeological site, both for the public, as well as, for researchers and scholars. Focus is on the Mazotos shipwreck site in Cyprus, which is located 44 meters underwater. The aim of this work is two-fold: (a) realistic modelling and mapping of the site and (b) an immersive virtual reality visit. For 3D modelling and mapping optical data were used. The underwater exploration is composed of a variety of sea elements including: plants, fish, stones, and artefacts, which are randomly positioned. Users can experience an immersive virtual underwater visit in Mazotos shipwreck site and get some information about the shipwreck and its contents for raising their archaeological knowledge and cultural awareness.

[1]  Dimitrios Skarlatos,et al.  The 4th-century B.C. shipwreck at Mazotos, Cyprus: New techniques and methodologies in the 3D mapping of shipwreck excavations , 2014 .

[2]  Sarah Jane Pell,et al.  Designing for depth: underwater play , 2013, IE '13.

[3]  Fabio Bruno,et al.  3D DOCUMENTATION OF ARCHEOLOGICAL REMAINS IN THE UNDERWATER PARK OF BAIAE , 2015 .

[4]  M. Hood,et al.  Excavation on the Kofinà Ridge, Chios , 1954, The Annual of the British School at Athens.

[5]  M. Lawall.  Graffiti, Wine Selling, and the Reuse of Amphoras in the Athenian Agora, CA. 430 to 400 B.C. , 2000 .

[6]  T. Rayns.  Treasures of the deep , 2007 .

[7]  Jonathan Benjamin,et al.  A Feasibility Study for the Investigation of Submerged Sites along the Coast of Slovenia , 2009 .

[8]  Ken Perlin,et al.  An image synthesizer , 1988 .

[9]  Yaacov Kahanov,et al.  The Tantura F Shipwreck, Israel , 2007 .

[10]  Panagiotis Agrafiotis,et al.  ACCURATE 3D SCANNING OF DAMAGED ANCIENT GREEK INSCRIPTIONS FOR REVEALING WEATHERED LETTERS , 2015 .

[11]  Pere Ridao,et al.  Creating 360° underwater virtual tours using an omnidirectional camera integrated in an AUV , 2015, OCEANS 2015 - Genova.

[12]  Carlo Beltrame,et al.  3D reconstruction of marble shipwreck cargoes based on underwater multi-image photogrammetry , 2016, Digit. Appl. Archaeol. Cult. Heritage.

[13]  Craig W. Reynolds.  Flocks, herds, and schools: a distributed behavioral model , 1987, SIGGRAPH.

[14]  Dimitrios Skarlatos,et al.  An ‘Open’ Method for 3D Modelling and Mapping in Underwater Archaeological Sites , 2012 .

[15]  Jonathan Benjamin,et al.  Multi-image Photogrammetry for Underwater Archaeological Site Recording: An Accessible, Diver-Based Approach , 2014, Journal of Maritime Archaeology.

[16]  Lena Vogler.  Treasures from the deep , 2016, Nature Geoscience.

[17]  Dhruv Jain,et al.  Immersive Terrestrial Scuba Diving Using Virtual Reality , 2016, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[18]  Stella Demesticha,et al.  The 4th‐Century‐BC Mazotos Shipwreck, Cyprus: a preliminary report , 2011 .

[19]  Fabio Bruno,et al.  Project iMARECULTURE: Advanced VR, iMmersive Serious Games and Augmented REality as Tools to Raise Awareness and Access to European Underwater CULTURal heritagE , 2016, EuroMed.

[20]  Stefan B. Williams,et al.  Reconstructing pavlopetri: Mapping the world's oldest submerged town using stereo-vision , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[21]  L. Neumann,et al.  a New Color Correction Method for Underwater Imaging , 2015 .

[22]  Giuseppe Riva,et al.  Being there : the experience of presence in mediated environments , 2003 .