Abstract
Game engines are developing fast and are used in several scientific disciplines. In the domain of cultural heritage, they have been applied mostly for dynamic visualization. On the other hand, GISs are employed to address research questions with a spatial component. In an ideal situation, the visualization power and analytical strength of the two technologies should be combined in one system. With this in mind, the analytical potential of a game engine was investigated based on a comparison with GIS analysis of historical routes. The outcome demonstrates the suitability of the game engine in offering extra analytical possibilities. This analytical capacity encourages further script developments in building more historically accurate models.
Highlights
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are widely used in research for the visualization and spatial analysis of historical data
Resolution issues are a possible limitation if large digital terrain model (DTM) or extracted roads and paths are imported
Such issues can be solved by splitting up the DTM or the roads and paths file into smaller tiles and reassembled in Unity
Summary
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are widely used in research for the visualization and spatial analysis of historical data. The term “believable” in games is often used in the context of movement (Anderson et al 2010; Ch’ng 2009; Jurney 2008; Nareyek 2004; Olsson 2008) It is not considered believable for humans to walk through walls nor across water. The full range of Unity’s capabilities is not explored here as the specific purpose of this analysis is to investigate the potential in historical road and path research. Within this scope, a comparison will be made between the LCP results in ArcGIS and Unity. The availability of highresolution relief data for the area further enhances the suitability of the Leitha Hills for historical route research (Table 1) This dataset will be discussed in detail below
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