Overview
Conservation and visualization of world heritage sites have an important role in tourism development. These Geospatial techniques have a vital impact on cultural studies and tourism management through documentation, preservation, and visualization of heritage sites. Usually, a tourist has limited spatial knowledge of the visited monument and environment, while maps as static means of promoting heritage have limited visualization of a given place. So, the focus on cultural tourism requires more than limited information. Hence, technologies, geospatial technologies such as geospatial techniques, aid in some significant ways in the transformation of spatial information and making sites more attractive to tourists compared to traditional mapping method.
Actually, visualization and simulation of 3D data integrated with 360 WEB-based venues are attracting increasing importance in heritage conservation and tourism promotion. This project aims at evaluating the outcomes of using geospatial techniques combined with the 360-visualization technology in conservation and promotions of the heritage sites in Amman - Jordan. The focus is on the Amman city heritage tourism with 3D visualization.
Amman as a city has a variety of cultural characteristics and
authentic that can promote cultural tourism. It has a various cultural heritage dating back to the Neolithic period and lasts until the present. We focused on Amman heritage and tourism sites, both the known and unknown heritage sites. That includes Jabal Al Qalaa Citadel, the Roman Theater, the Odeon, Sabeel Al Horyat, Rejm Malfouf, Abu Nasir, Abdoun Press and others. Through this project, we targeted promoting and visualizing the cultural and heritage sites differently in order to regenerate the city, to raise its international profile and to enhance its touristic image. The final product is a virtual website that integrates the GIS facilities with the virtual 360 model of the cultural heritage sites in Amman for documentation, visualization and marketing of cultural heritage sites.
Research Methodology
From a methodological point of view, this study integrates three dimensions of cultural tourism: archaeological and heritage realm, mapping heritage places, and tourism promotion. The method used in archaeological and heritage realms will focus on gathering information on archaeological sites in Amman. In this sense, the cultural layer will have two main purposes: spatializing the cultural significance of a period, and then, relating it to the museum objects. Model visualization and simulation of both museums and heritage sites are attracting increasing importance in tourism development. As promising technologies for cultural marketing and tourism, the GIS and 360 video technologies can provide both types of information: quantitative and qualitative about the given place. The results include cultural layers of information.
Applying geospatial in the case of this study is essential to help integrating both physical information (quantitative) and texts and narratives (qualitative) in visualizing archaeological or heritage sites.
Heritage Sites Documentation
This part aims at conserving and visualizing the cultural and heritage value of the Amman city, and at documenting the cultural and the history aspects of different cultures that settled in the region.
The full visualization of the Archaeological museum can be reached via this link:
https://www.jordantour360.com/archaeological-museum
Project Website
This website is one of the main project output
“Geospatial technologies for Heritage Sites Documentation and Promotion in Amman-Jordan". The visitors of our website shall have the opportunity to explore the virtual tourism wonders of Amman-heritage sites by navigating through our extensive library of virtual tours and 360 –Video and photos. The website gives to its viewers a practical information about the history and significance of each location, which enables them, to plan your future real visit to Amman, and to discover the beauty of Jordan with the highest quality virtual tourism experience.
https://www.jordantour360.com/
Acknowledgment
Our great thanks to the National Scientific Research and Innovation Center for the financial support, to the Deanship of Scientific Research in the University of Jordan, and to the Department of Antiquities for facilitating the fieldwork and visit in different antiquities sites. In addition, I like to express our great thanks for the scientific team Prof. Zeyad Makhamreh, Prof. Nabil Ali and Dr. Nidal Alzboun, and the research team members for their contribution in the scientific and fieldwork input.
Team Leader Prof. Zeyad Makhamreh – University of Jordan.
Contact:
z.makhamreh@ju.edu.jo
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