Time Travel Comes To Rome
In a voyage that bridges the past and the present, the Virtual Museum of the Ancient Via Flaminia unveiled a virtual reconstruction of one of the bustling arteries that led into ancient Rome, allowing visitors to wander through rebuilt monuments and interact with the city’s political elite.
Using a concept similar to that of online virtual worlds, the project creates characters, or avatars, that roam the ancient Via Flaminia, exploring monuments that lined the road, bridges and arches. For instance, visitors can also roam through the villa belonging to Livia, wife of Rome’s first emperor, Augustus. Here, the avatars receive explanations from characters - including the empress and the emperor - as well as a gardener who shares the secrets of the decorative plantings of ancient Rome.
The avatars also can switch to a virtual tour of the monuments as they look today: fragile ruins on the outskirts of the Italian capital. [Via]
Currently, this is accessed at a physical location, but going forward, is this the future of tourism?
Filed under: Emerging Tech, Ideas & Innovations