Titulo Estágio
Tangible VR Book for Maritime Heritage Education
Local do Estágio
VRLab
Enquadramento
The digitization of maritime historical records, particularly the Lloyd's Register of Ships archive, has revolutionized access to important technical documents for understanding naval engineering and maritime history. These archives, which include ship plans, survey reports, and technical documentation dating back to 1830, offer a rich source of information on the evolution of shipbuilding and maritime safety practices. However, traditional methods of studying these complex documents can be complicated and challenging for students and educators, often lacking the immersive context necessary for a complete interpretation.
Virtual Reality (VR) combined with tangible interfaces presents a transformative solution, offering an interactive and immersive environment that significantly enhances the exploration and understanding of these historical documents. By leveraging VR technology together with a physical book equipped with visual markers (Tangible VR Book), students can explore complex ship plans and technical reports with unprecedented detail and context, transforming static documents into three-dimensional educational experiences.
This proposal aims to investigate the development of a Tangible VR Book for studying maritime heritage through the Lloyd's Register of Ships collection, focusing on improving understanding and engagement. Through this work, we seek to establish new methodologies for education in naval engineering and maritime history, enhancing both the interpretative and communicative aspects of these complex historical materials.
The application of smartphone-based VR technology, combined with tangible interfaces, allows for the development of an accessible and effective methodology for visualizing and interacting with historical documents, with a three-stage workflow: i) preparation of historical materials; ii) development of the tangible interface; iii) integration with VR experiences. The final result will be an interactive educational system that transforms historical ship plans into explorable three-dimensional models, on which various methods of visualization can be applied.
Within the strategy for maritime heritage and naval engineering education, the aim is to develop an interactive VR tool that contributes to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of educational processes. Considering that one of the main challenges in teaching these disciplines is the visualization and understanding of the technical complexities of ship plans and inspection reports, the use and development of this tool can be an important factor in optimizing learning processes.
Objetivo
Development of a Tangible VR Book for analysis of maritime historical documents:
- Create an interactive tangible interface that enables the visualization and analysis of ship plans and technical reports from the Lloyd's Register of Ships.
- Integrate intuitive interaction and navigation features to facilitate the exploration of complex historical documents.
- Develop 3D representations of historical ships based on original plans for immersive visualization.
Design and Implementation of Interactive Features:
- Design an intuitive navigation system for exploring different sections of ship plans and related documents.
- Implement interactive features that allow users to examine specific components of ships in detail.
- Create visualization tools for understanding the evolution of shipbuilding techniques across different time periods.
Development of an Open and Accessible Framework:
- Design the system to be usable with affordable smartphone-based VR technology.
- Create documentation to allow teachers to develop their own content for the Tangible VR Book.
- Establish a framework that can be extended to other maritime heritage collections beyond the initial implementation.
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 1
1st semester:
- Study of virtual reality (VR) and tangible interfaces
- Study of the Lloyd's Register of Ships collection
- Study of AR frameworks compatible with A-Frame
- Requirements gathering for interface development
- Development of initial prototype of the Tangible VR Book
- Writing of interim report
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 2
2nd semester
- Implementation of interactive features
- User testing and refinement of the system
- Documentation for system replication by educators
- Evaluation
- Writing of dissertation
- Writing of scientific article
Condições
- Access to VRLab and VR equipment
- Access to the digital collection of Lloyd's Register of Ships
- Equipment and materials for prototyping the tangible interface
Orientador
Jorge C. S. Cardoso
jorgecardoso@dei.uc.pt 📩