Methodological Approaches and ICT Solutions for Smart Cities

This paper illustrates some results obtained by the ITLab (Information Technologies Lab of IBAM CNR Institute) within two PON (National Operational Program) projects called: "DiCet" and "Siracusa Energia", both financed by national funds. These two projects pursue the objective of defining and producing innovative models, processes, and tools for the sustainable development of a smart territory by capitalizing on its cultural assets and environmental resources, to promote their tourism offer. From this standpoint, some procedures were developed to compile technical models for an efficient management of 3D and 2D resources, and to define best practices and methodical protocols for quality certification and process standardization, capable of fostering cross-sector dialogue. The sites were identified as a function of a supply-and-demand analysis with regard to a placement on the market of innovative models and services based on the creation of hyper-realistic digital models and virtual scenarios. Particular attention was given to those uses that permit greater visibility, protection, and conservation of cultural assets characterized by difficult access, vulnerability, seismic risk, hydro-geological risk, etc. In view of this, innovative models and tools were designed and developed for capitalizing on and exploiting cultural heritage, understood as an integrated and complex system conceived as a holistic model strongly based on the use of ICT technologies. Virtual enjoyment is understood here as a form of representing reality that accelerates and strengthens cognitive capacities, which is to say it becomes capable of generating extremely sensitive, "virtuous virtual" learning processes based on metaphors of the real world, and thus easy to use and understand. Operationally, our working group has made some Augmented Reality solutions available; these enable the interactive display - directly in situ and especially on mobile devices - of archaeological monuments integrated within the urban fabric. A simple solution allows the user to display an interactive 3D reconstruction directly on the real site, using the latest-generation gyroscope function. In addition to this, certain inaccessible monuments of the cities of Lecce and Siracusa have been virtualized, chiefly using image-based technologies and ultra-realistic laser scanning, to allow them to be visited remotely both via smartphone and on large virtual theatres.