An augmented experiences in cultural heritage through mobile devices: "Matera Tales of a City" project

The aim of "Matera Citt? Narrata" (Matera: Tales of a City) project is the creation of a digital platform able to support the public before and during the visit of Matera (Unesco World Heritage since 1993), through the access to cultural contents while attending places, sites, itineraries. It does not consist in a descriptive traditional guide inspecting monuments and mentioning who made them and when. On the contrary it tells the stories that took place in those ancient sites, real fragments of life, myths, events, characters, memories. The main components of the project are: 1) the web site, accessible in remote desktop systems and from smartphone, where it is possible to enjoy narratives, to make specific researches or to download different kinds of materials useful during the successive visit of the city; 2) cultural contents and applications for mobile devices (smartphone, tablet,.mp3 player) with different operative systems (iOS, Android, Symbian, Java). In this way every user can reach cultural contents in a simple way, choosing the communicative format he prefers and supported by the technology he owns. The access is totally free for public. The project has been realized by CNR ITABC and supported by the Regional Promotion Agency (APT) and the Basilicata Regional Government's Department of Manufacturing/Production Activities. Several contents have been developed: 3D reconstructions, videos, multimedia, virtual reality environments, audio guides. The paper will describe the contents and the technological infrastructure. © 2012 IEEE.