Preservation of Heritage in Iraq using AR

Abstract

Augmented reality (AR) has come a long way in the past few years. From requiring special devices and hardware into the palm of our hands. The advancement of smartphone and tablet hardware enables beautiful, precise and engaging AR experiences. This article explores the application of AR experiences in the context of cultural heritage digitization. AR has a lot to offer the digitization of cultural assets, especially when it comes to situations when it is crucial to preserve a country's culture and historic objects. This is particularly evident in nations with rich historical legacies and old civilizations, such as Iraq. However, violent situations, war, and catastrophic occurrences have continuously threatened to erase this rich past. Future generations may be protected by using AR as a potent tool for not only conserving but also presenting and teaching people about these priceless cultural artifacts. The proposed AR application is developed using SwiftUI’s Model View View Model (MVVM) programming model. The experience’s AR capabilities utilize ARKit 6 framework and RealityKit framework for AR. These frameworks provide unparallel AR abilities for tracking, positioning and rendering 3D objects. Furthermore, ARKit provides the ability of building collaborative AR sessions across multiple devices for a shared AR experience.