SOLUTIONS

The i-blueCulture project is based on the idea of developing a 3D underwater digitization of the marine space for the virtual tour of non-diving citizens. It aims to offer an novel experience of underwater reality to the visitor with the possibility of augmented reality elements within the underwater geolocation, where the user will be able to safely and accurately navigate underwater monuments.

The main architecture of i-blueCulture consists of seven main parts:

The collection of information from the installed cameras and imaging devices, which will gather all the information required for the monument’s 3D modeling and virtual tour. Additionally, it will collect information from the user’s devices (smartphones / tablets) to help the user browse the 3D space.

The application that creates the 3D monument, which will receive input from the fixed cameras installed, in order to accurately and realistically represent / model the monument.

The analysis of the underwater cameras’ data, which includes image processing and computer vision algorithms, which will calibrate the cameras in regards to the 3D model of the monument, and will create the virtual navigation environment.

The processing system for the imaging devices, where all the data(eg gyroscope, GPS, etc.) from the imaging device will be analyzed and processed in order to enable the virtual user navigation within the virtual environment of the monument.

The application that creates the virtual view, where the system will gather data from all the subsystems, and will create a virtual view that simulates exactly what the user would see if he was standing in the specific location in the underwater monument.

The virtual view streaming, so that the user can see the underwater monument’s environment view in real time.

The user interfaces, which will be integrated in an application (iOS and Android), which will only be activated above the point of interest (or other specific locations) and will show the virtual view to the user, while the user will be able to navigate the virtual environment of the monument. The approach to the underwater space will be done considering the exact point of the user and the movements that he makes with his mobile device to “immerse” towards the monument.