Daniel Pletinckx gave a presentation on smart historical cities and digital cultural heritage. He discussed projects in Bologna, Cologne, and Amsterdam that used 3D modeling and virtual reconstructions to tell stories about the cities' histories. He also described the Ename archaeological park project, which reconstructed 16 periods of the city's evolution over 1000 years. Pletinckx argued that technology allows history to be experienced outside of museums and that cities themselves can become museums through augmented reality, virtual reconstructions, and location-based storytelling.

1. Intervento di
Daniel Pletinckx
Al convegno
[co.06] Tecnologie della comunicazione e
beni culturali nella città intelligente
Di Martedì 30 ottobre 2012 Consulta il programma di SCE2012

2. V-MUST is funded by the European Commission under the Community's Seventh
Framework Programme, contract no. GA 270404.
The Smart
Historical City
Daniel Pletinckx
Visual Dimension bvba
Belgium

3. Daniel Pletinckx
• Civil engineer ICT
• Active in cultural heritage since 1997
• Coordinator European projects
– EPOCH (2004-2008)
– CARARE (2010-2013)
– V-MUST (2011-2015)
– 3D-ICONS (2012-2015)
• Golden Scarab 1998
• Best Monument Award 1998
• VGI ICT Innovation Award 2003
• Tartessos Award, Sevilla, 2009

4. Visual Dimension
• Innovation company
• 3D digitisation & virtual reconstruction
• Integration of ICT in museums, sites, monuments, tourism
• Coordination of CH projects
• Training and consulting

5. The rich history of Bologna
• Bologna city museum (Palazzo Pepoli)
– Opened Jan 2012
– Contains 3D film room
– Apa, the Etruscan
– 3D cartoon movie (7 minutes, 20.000 euro/min, CINECA)
– Scientifically correct but strong story
– All 3D models and animations in repository

6. The rich history of Bologna
Bologna archaeological museum

7. The rich history of Bologna
Apa depicted on the Certosa situla, Bologna archaeological museum

8. The rich history of Bologna
Apa depicted on the Certosa situla, Bologna archaeological museum

9. The rich history of Bologna
Image by CINECA from Apa film at Palazzo Pepoli (Bologna city museum)

10. The rich history of Bologna
Images by CINECA from Apa film at
Palazzo Pepoli (Bologna city museum)

11. The rich history of Bologna
3D reconstruction of Roman Bologna (CINECA)

12. The rich history of Bologna
Image by CINECA from Apa film at Palazzo Pepoli (Bologna city museum)

13. The rich history of Bologna
Fresco of medieval Bologna, Vatican

14. The rich history of Bologna
Reconstruction San Petronio (CINECA)

15. Cologne, the first “colonia”
Ubier monument in basement of an appartment

16. Cologne, the first “colonia”
Ubier monument in basement of an appartment

17. Cologne, the first “colonia”
Ubier monument in basement of an appartment

18. Cologne, the first “colonia”
Ubier monument in basement of an appartment

19. Cologne, the first “colonia”
Ubier monument as a witness of a rich story

20. Cologne, the first “colonia”
Ubier monument as part of a larger story

21. Amsterdam, metro as museum
Rokin metro station (2017)

22. Amsterdam, metro as museum
Historical Amsterdam (1560)

23. Amsterdam, metro as museum
Rokin metro station (2017)

24. Amsterdam, metro as museum
Archaeological objects to be displayed

25. Ename, the lost city
• Archaeological park & Heritage Centre
– Virtual reconstruction of 16 periods
(evolution through 1000 years of history)
– 70 years of research, 25 years of excavation
– Procedural 3D modelling of buildings (ArchiCAD)
– Animation & free form objects (Blender)
– Procedural landscape simulation (Vue)
– Interactive storytelling on onsite kiosk (TimeFrame)
• Story of the lost city
– Creation of cities and economic activity around 1000 AD
– Major city in the making, 2 churches, capital of large area
– Taken by surprise, destroyed, never recovered

26. Ename, the lost city

27. Ename, the lost city

28. Ename, the lost city
ArchiCAD
Modelling
of abbey
in 1065

29. Ename, the lost city
Vue landscape simulation of abbey in 1065

30. Ename, the lost city
Vue landscape simulation of abbey in 1065

31. Smart Historical City
• Today history and art are confined in museums
– Preservation and research
– Objects and information out of context
• Technology creates major paradigm shift
– Perception is detached from presence
– Ubiquitous information
– Location based services (GPS)
– Affordable!
• Why not have the city as museum?
– Museums as knowledge institutions and reference/starting points
– Explore the city and experience history

32. Smart Historical City
• Technology brings history outside museum walls
– Augmented reality
– Creating believable virtual cityscapes & landscapes
– Creating believable virtual live
– Represent objects in an appealing way
– Large repositories & portals (e.g. Europeana)
• Storytelling
– No better story than the real, historical story
– Authenticity of the story or storyline
– Authenticity of the place
– Non-linear storytelling (location & interest based) ~ Facebook

33. Smart Historical City
• Value of a museum?
– The unique selling point of a museum = its collection
– The unique asset of a museum = its knowledge
– The unique offering of a museum = its story
• Museums should be
– Providing experiences (spatial, emotional, intellectual) in house
– Providing the larger context (web, mobile apps, publications)
– Link objects with the larger story

34. Digital museum objects
• Other “instance” of the museum object
– Not the real object
– But more added value than the real object
– Digital restoration
– Storytelling
• Recontextualisation
– Put the object back in the city
– Tell the story on the spot

35. Digital museum objects
Ivory object (real: left, 3D:right) from Ename museum, Belgium

36. Digital museum objects
Virtex setup for digital museum objects

37. Digital museum objects
The first (Our Lady) and second (Saint Saviour) abbey in Ename in 1065

38. Etruscanning 3D
Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican Museums

39. Etruscanning 3D
Excavated in 1836 by A. Regolini, financed by general V. Galassi, objects in Vatican Museums
Blog with virtual reconstruction background : http://regolinigalassi.wordpress.com/

40. Etruscanning 3D
Etruscanning setup at the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam

41. Etruscanning 3D
Etruscanning setup at the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam

42. Etruscanning 3D
Etruscanning setup at the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam

43. Digital museum objects
Patera from Regolini-Galassi tomb, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican

44. Digital museum objects
Patera from Regolini-Galassi tomb, Grifi, 1841

45. Digital museum objects
Patera from Regolini-Galassi tomb, L. Di Blasi, 1999

46. Digital museum objects
Patera from Regolini-Galassi tomb, digital restoration, 2011

47. Digital museum objects
Patera from Regolini-Galassi tomb, digital restoration, depth map, 2011

48. Digital museum objects
Patera from Regolini-Galassi tomb, digital restoration, render test with normal maps, 2011

49. V-MusT.net
• Virtual Museum Transnational Network
• European Network of Excellence
on Digital and Virtual Museums
(http://www.v-must.net/ , 2011 - 2015)
• In the domain of museum technology
– bring together museums, research and companies
– apply the available knowledge and technology to the museum domain
– improve the way ICT is used in the museum domain
• Partners
– 18 core partners
– 50+ associated partners
– Museum Advisory Board / Experts Advisory Board

50. V-MusT.net Partners
• Research Centres
– CNR (National Research Council of Italy)
– APRE (Italy)
– CINECA (Italy)
– INRIA (National Research Institute on ICT, France)
– STARC (Cyprus Institute)
– Foundation of the Hellenic World (Athens)
– CultNat (Egypt)
– Fraunhofer IGD (Darmstadt, Germany)
– Societad Espanola de Arqueologia Virtual (Sevilla)

51. V-MusT.net Partners
• Museums
– Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam
– Hellenic Cosmos, Athens
– Musea of the Imperial Fora, Rome
• Universities
– King’s College London, UK
– University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
– University of Brighton, UK
• Companies
– VirtualWare
– Visual Dimension

52. Focus and scope
• V-MusT is about
– Affordable technology (Open Source, standard technology)
– Sustainable implementation (maintenance, updating, robustness)
– Portability, re-use & exchange, re-purpose
• Not only about technology but also about
– Methodology & design guidelines (fitness for use)
– Change management
– Training museum and CH experts
• And about INTEGRATION in the museum domain
– Link research with public presentation
– Provide insight in the workflow to obtain QUALITY
– Support the domain => Competence Centre

53. Competence Centre
• Continues the V-MusT Network of Excellence activities
– Permanently over Europe
– Self-sustaining
• through implementation of projects on European scale
– Service brokerage
– Pool of experts, accredited companies and research centres
– One responsible non-profit party for the museums
• for the full project duration
– Conception
– Funding or tendering
– Implementation
– Maintenance

54. Thank you!
heritage@visualdimension.be
exploitation@v-must.net
skype: daniel.pletinckx