Yesterday i was in Milan. It’s been a very interesting day. In my EU-funding-programs-guanxi-development i was in search for cultural heritage contents and tech applications definition and design. First of all i met prof.ssa Silvia Lusuardi Siena, Director of Archeology Dept. of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. We discussed about Superintendence for Architectural Heritage and Landscape policies, Paleochristian heritage, EU funds and more…
Then, talking with Paolo Magni and Fabrizio Amarilli of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano we started exploring opportunities in Cultural Heritage enhancement by means of technologies as Augmented Reality and QR Codes. We found that a QR Code is better than a RFID TAG mainly because…
- it’s cheaper
- you won’t need any tag rewriting if the database of Point of Interest and catalogued assets will ever change
- you will have to deal with a low criticality if the tag is removed or damaged
- you won’t need an ad hoc device to read it (i.e. NFC device, you can simply use your smartphone)
Here are some info for the “tools of the trade”.
(RFID or Radio Frequency Identification) is a technology for automatic identification of objects, animals or people based on capability to store and remotely access data using electronic devices (called tags or transponders) able to respond by sending back the information contained in them when prompted. A RFID system is based on the remote reading of information contained in an RFID tag using special RFID readers. An RFID system mainly consists of:
- a reading device (reader);
- one or more antennas to send signal (with data to be read) and receive replies;
- one or more transponder / RFID tag.
The element that characterizes an RFID transponder or tag and consists of:
- a microchip that contains data;
- an antenna;
- sometimes, but not necessarily, a battery.
A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response” (rapid response), because the creator was thinking of a code that would allow rapid decoding of its content. Although initially used to draw many pieces in the construction of vehicles, QR codes are now used for inventory management in a wide variety of industries. More recently, have been developed to the convenience-oriented applications, aimed to raise the user from the tedious task of entering data into your phone. QR codes that store addresses (especially the Internet) are becoming increasingly common in stores and advertising. The addition of QR Codes on business cards is becoming common, greatly simplifying the task to enter the personal details of a new knowledge in the phonebook of your phone.
QR Code Data capacity:
- numeric only Max 7089 characters;
- alphanumeric Max 4296 characters;
- binary (8 bit) Max 2953 bytes;
- Kanji / Kana Max 1817 characters.
Augmented Reality or AR is essentially an overlap between information and environment in a single interface, one corresponding to our field of vision, which combines virtual reality, digital information and the real world. You can use the benefits of RA during a visit to a museum to see and hear about works of art and to interact with them, asking for example, to customize the path to visit or investigate particular aspects of cultural, artistic or structural . It is used mainly through special applications for mobile devices (smartphones like iPhone, etc.).
