Virtual time travel through pre-reformation Edinburgh

In “A View from a Hill”, a ghost story by M. R. James, an archaeologist’s binoculars allows them to see scenes from the past. The Edinburgh 1544 project enables visitors and residents of Edinburgh to see the city as it was just prior to the reformation.

We use mobile phones and the Google Daydream platform to deliver an onsite dual reality experience. As visitors explore the sites of Edinburgh, they can see into the past using their digital time travel binoculars. The app is mobile and orientation aware, automatically delivering the correct view. A map interface allows an engaging experience for remote virtual visitors as well.

Virtual Time Binoculars - Edinburgh 1544 from Smart History on Vimeo.

The binoculars app enables the user experience to be optimised for technology they already have in their pockets.

• It makes virtual time travel a reality and available to mass audiences. 
• It provides a new way of interacting with the past that both enriches the visitor experience and provides insights into the past not otherwise readily available.  

What is the research? 
The VTB design draws upon EPSRC-funded research at the University of St Andrews into dual reality systems where the virtual and real worlds occupy the same space. Position and orientation within the two worlds are synchronised enabling intuitive exploration of both worlds through movement in the real world. The Smart History team investigated dual reality systems through exploring inside (St Salvators Chapel) and outside (St Andrews Cathedral) using modified Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard VR headsets. This led them to observe that users tended to look around whilst using the headsets.

Observation of users led the researchers to a viewpoint-oriented approach, where high fidelity 360 photographs of a reconstruction were used and developed in the UNREAL4 Game Engine. This allowed the digital content to be hosted and displayed on mobile platforms and does not require the virtual reality viewer to be tethered to a bulky computer.

How is it applicable? 

Pre-reformation Edinburgh Netherbow

This research has been applied within The Virtual Time Binoculars (VTB) project and is a core component of the Smart History company founded by Dr Katie Stevenson from the School of History and Dr Alan Miller from the School of Computer Science. The VTB is a Edinburgh Digital Launchpad project funded by Innovate UK.

In VTB the team developed a digital reconstruction of pre-reformation Edinburgh. The Smart History team brings together a multi-disciplinary team of Computer Scientists, Digital Designers, Digital Media producers, Historians and Museum Professional. They have CAA-approved drone pilots, Google-approved 360 photographers and prize-winning historians working together to create engaging mobile onsite experiences.

The historical work has been conducted in consultation with Prof. Richard Fawcett of the School of Art History and John Lawson, a Edinburgh City Council Historian. They also worked with the National Trust for Scotland and the Timespan Museum and Gallery in developing the technology used in the app. They have worked with Edinburgh City Museum to provide a permanent showcase for the project.

The Medieval Edinburgh App was launched at the start of May 2017. It is expected that the VTB will become a ‘must have’ part of the experience of visiting Edinburgh.
View reconstructions
More information

EU-LAC-MUSEUMS: Museums and Community: Concepts, Experiences and Sustainability in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean

Dr Karen Brown

Museums can provide vital services to their communities, providing under-represented people with a chance to stake a place in history, as well as contributing to sustainability, community empowerment and links between generations. Dr Karen Brown, Lecturer in the School of Art History and Museum and Gallery Studies and Director of the University’s Museum and Galleries Collections Institute, is leading a new EU-funded project exploring the role that small, community-run museums play in their communities. The EU-LAC-MUSEUMS project will run from 2016 to 2020, and investigate rural community museums in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. It will bring together researchers from Scotland, Portugal, Spain, Costa Rica, Chile, Peru, and the West Indies. The project has received funding from Horizon2020, the EU’s biggest ever research and innovation programme.

Over the next four years, the international team of academics will investigate how rural, community-run museums can inform museum practice, particularly for remote and island locations. Two of the museums involved are Ceumannan-Skye Ecomuseum in Scotland, and the Rey Curré Museo Comunitario in Costa Rica, which is run by the native Boruca people. Both of these community museums are open air, and encourage visitors to explore the natural landscapes and traditional structures. It is hoped that the project will allow both academics and the public to better understand the benefits of, and challenges facing, such geographically isolated museums.

Dr Catherine Spencer

As well as academic work, the EU-LAC-MUSEUMS project will hold a youth exchange, bringing young people from each region together to work on an oral history project with community elders. This project will allow young people to engage with their society’s history, explore other cultures, gain skills in research techniques and IT, and learn to work effectively in a culturally diverse team. Community museum members will in addition produce a Virtual Exhibition with the help of St Andrew’s Open Virtual Worlds (www.openvirtualworlds.org). Some preliminary results from our first workshop in Shetland involving Alan Miller, Iain Oliver, Catherine Cassidy and Karen Brown can be seen here: https://sketchfab.com/models/cf20d43bd5e948c0bb53d82662ad30b9.

The project will also see the creation of an exhibition of Caribbean Contemporary Art on the theme of migration, curated by an international team including Dr Karen Brown, Dr Catherine Spencer (School of Art History), Dr Alissandra Cummins (University of the West Indies) and Verle Poupeye (National Gallery of Jamaica). This exhibition will tour the Caribbean and Europe from 2017 to 2020, including representation in the 2019 Venice Biennale.

A major partner in the EU-LAC-MUSEUMS project is ICOM (the International Council of Museums (www.icom.museum). Working with this organisation will allow the project to reach ICOM’s 35,000 members in 136 countries. The project will also reach the public through the Youth Exchange, exhibition and a website hosting all research output of the project, as well as audio-visual content and 3D models of museum objects. The project website will be available at http://eulacmuseums.net/. 

EU-LAC-MUSEUMS: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693669.

Interfacing with historical reconstructions through Open Virtual Worlds

In a similar way as the PiXaR film Brave, set in an imaginary Scottish castle, introduced millions to Scottish landscapes or computer games such as Assassins Creed enable exploration of historic scenes, the Virtual Time Travel Platform (VTTP) of Open Virtual Worlds enables authentic recreations of community settings as they were in their heyday. The combined experience of Dr Alan Miller, Lisa Dow and Dr Colin Allison (School of Computer Science) in both systems research and technology-enhanced learning, and the domain expertise of Dr Rebecca Sweetman (School of Classics), Prof. Richard Fawcett (School of Art History) and Tom Dawson (School of History), has been instrumental in adapting and developing emerging 3D technologies to create digital interpretations of the past and connected them to local communities. Where Brave presents a single pathway through a fictional narrative, VTTP enables visitors to explore authentic scenes; and, where Assassins Creed delivers pre-defined scenarios to a global audience, VTTP enables community participation in the creation and exploration of scenes directly connected to actual historical communities. Some examples are the Time installation which features a pre-clearance Caen Highland Township, a reconstruction of the St Kilda world heritage site, and the virtual St Andrews Cathedral. The low equipment cost and support for content creation make embedding the VTTP available to small museums for the first time. The Timespan VTTP installation, for example, with a 300” wrap-around display, natural body movement control and visually powerful 3D graphics, forms a highly effective and interactive educational experience.

Additionally, the studies of S1 pupils at Madras College in St Andrews have been enriched as the history of the St Andrews Cathedral was "brought to life" for them with the interactive digital displays.
A new mobile app detailing the mediaeval roots of St Andrews has been launched which allows users to explore 22 key sites across the St Andrews via a range of interactive and media tools. The app is free to download via the Google Play store and is available now and features the 1580 Geddy map, generously donated for use by the National Library of Scotland, and special 'guest appearances' from honorary University of St Andrews alumni Sir Sean Connery and Joanna Lumley. Expansion packs to the app are planned for 2015.
The research was funded by the EPSRC, HEA, and the University of St Andrews.

Dictionary of Scottish Architects: A free online database resource

Robert Lorimer ...

The Dictionary of Scottish Architects, launched in 2006 by Emeritus Professor David Walker (School of Art History) and his team, is a fully searchable, free, online database, which has transformed how individuals interested in Scottish architecture, from 1840 onwards, can engage with the subject.
The database provides biographical information and job lists for all architects (and some engineers) known to have worked in Scotland during the period 1840-1940 (and many from 1940-80), including almost 15,000 biographical and over 57,000 building entries.

.... and his work: the gatehouse at Earlshall, Fife, 1900

The large quantity of material collected and researched by Prof. Walker provided the core data for the project. The resource, searchable by name or location of architect, practice, or building, as well as by client, has become an important tool for anyone interested in Scottish architects and architecture and many who became part of the Scottish diaspora across the world.