Interactive itinerary of heritage houses in Beirut: Walking back to the future

Abstract

The aim of this project paper is to explore the opportunities and challenges of using ICT in the understanding, representation, preservation, management, interpretation of cultural heritage and its Man initiated deconstruction. Aggressive urban development and the rampant growth of tourism pose major problems to world heritage sites. Of particular interest for this project paper are issues related to the specific town of Beirut through interactive virtual reality, and making virtual reality user-friendly and available resources for the general public. A virtual Platform is presented in order to explore and map the challenges and opportunities of using ICT in cultural heritage. This virtual Platform provides a forum to examine and discuss current practices and future directions in the representation, documentation and communication of cultural heritage using ICT. It aims to provide an occasion to share and exchange experiences and research findings, to stimulate more ideas and useful insights regarding the uses of ICT in cultural heritage. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.