i-blueCulture

Diving is one of the most exciting recreational activities. More than 25 million divers exist worldwide, while Greece currently has 271 diving centers. The enriched Greek wealth consists of rich flora and fauna, shipwrecks, reefs, and is a pole of attraction for tourists, but unfortunately the diving tourism of Greece is not very well known. Moreover, this type of tourism is targeted only at diving tourists, while the majority oftourists are not able to visit them. Thus, there is a strong need to link tourism to culture and the natural environment through new technological innovations that will allow all tourists to approach them in a virtual way. The i-blueCulture intends to research and develop a new 3D underwater digitization method in an absolutely efficient and safe way to a depth of 100m and to create a real-time virtual reality system where the user will be able to safely and accurately navigate to underwater monuments. Specifically, the i-blueCulture will focus on the digitization research of 3D monuments, the creation of a virtual environment, the construction of virtual sights for navigation, as well as appropriate interfaces. Finally, the i-blueCulture project will be implemented in four (4) pilot offshore installations, where it will be evaluated and validated.

Consortium

Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH)
Kataditiko Kentro Skopelou (DiveSkopelos)
Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH)
Arx.Net (ArxNet)
Technical University of Crete/ School of Electrical & Computing Engineering (TUC)