Augmented Reality to Reconstruct Sri Lankan Cultural Heritage in Prime State: HeladivaAR

Abstract

Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in the world with a great history and cultural heritage which has been a spotlight in the tourism industry. These places attract many of the local as well as foreign visitors because of their historical value. They try to create an imaginary picture of how it could have been all those years back which could be a false image or a much less correct image than the actual image. Which is why this project is unique in the way it represents the ancient historical sites of Sri Lanka as they were at the time where they were in full structure. “HeladivaAR” is mobile phone application offers personalized augmented reality tours of archaeological sites. It uses image processing, 3D modeling, tracker identification using Android platform, historical books and views from historians and augmented reality techniques to enhance information presentation, reconstruct ruined sites, as it was on top of the existing ruins. By means of Augmented Reality, the real scene is enhanced by multimedia personalized interactive information to increase the experience of the user, who can retrieve this information by a user-friendly interface through their mobile phone. In education, virtual heritage becomes a platform for learning, motivating and understanding of certain events and historical elements for the students and researchers. This application provides a better understanding of Sri Lankan cultural heritage and lets users gain interactive knowledge on archeological facts of ancient kingdoms.