Digitizing and navigating unaccessible archaeological sites on mobile devices

A very large number of sites, probably the large majority of our Cultural Heritage (CH), are unaccessible to the public due to the lack of infrastructure, improper security conditions or lack of personnel. Digitizing in 3D those sites is not very complicated nowadays. We will briefly review the technology available for cheap 3D digitization, from 3D scanning to cheaper photogrammetric solutions. However, digitization per se is not a solution: 3D models have to be shared in the widest and easiest manner. We will present the design and results of a software instrument that aims at supporting easy navigation of 3D digitized spaces, running on top of mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. The main goal of this project is to guarantee navigation with ease for users without experience in computer graphics and videogames, while providing high-fidelity rendering of the digital 3D model.