Combining traditional and indirect augmented reality for indoor crowded environments. A case study on the Casa Batlló museum

Abstract

Mobile audio-guides are currently being used in museums to enhance the visitors’ experience. Over the past few years, some Augmented Reality (AR) solutions have been explored in this context, making it possible to provide augmented visual and sonic stimuli through the use of smartphones. However, the special conditions of museums (e.g. artificial markers cannot be used, small, crowded rooms, etc.) and the limited computational capacity of smartphones mean that there are important restrictions in the use of this technology. In this paper we introduce a novel mobile augmented guide for the Casa Batlló museum (Barcelona, Spain) which is based on a combination of traditional and indirect AR. Through the proposed solution, we further explore the use of indirect AR for the interior of buildings as, at present, this technology is usually used for outdoor environments. The developed application is currently being used by Casa Batlló visitors. Retrieval of user experience shows some of the benefits of the proposed solution and opens the door for other similar solutions in museums.