Exploring Qatar's cultural heritage with immersive experiences

Qatar has a rich cultural heritage, from the UNESCO site of Al Zubarah Archaeological Site to the Al Jassasiya Rock Art Site. Leveraging immersive experiences through the metaverse, 3D internet, and digital twins helps these cultural landmarks come alive digitally. These technologies revolutionize cultural engagement, offering new ways to interact with heritage. This blog delves into various immersive experiences highlighting Qatar's cultural legacy. It demonstrates how these advanced technologies preserve and promote the nation's history and traditions and share them with a global audience. We'll dive into understanding experiences like virtual museums, historic sites, and cultural festivals and how they make Qatari culture accessible, engaging, and indefinitely available for future generations.

Can you experience cultural heritage in the metaverse?

The metaverse, or 3D internet, is an interconnected universe of immersive digital spaces where individuals can socialize, learn, play, and work. A concept closely intertwined with the metaverse's 3D environment is digital twins, a virtual replica of a real-world object or system continually updated with real-time data. This digital twin accurately represents the physical counterpart's current state, allowing individuals to view the object and its functioning. 

These technological marvels are becoming extremely popular in creating immersive cultural heritage experiences. Metaverse platforms can allow cultural institutions and artists to create digital versions of museums and exhibitions that allow visitors to experience artifacts and art in an interactive format online. Historical events, festivals, and ceremonies can also be recreated within the 3D internet, giving viewers the chance to step back in time. 

Qatar's National Museum used digital twin technology to recreate a virtual version of their museum that students can experience from anywhere. Students can tour the digital 3D model of the museum alongside live interaction with the museum's guide. This engaging experience allows students to experience aspects of Qatari culture, like architecture and modern history. 

Using digital technologies like the 3D internet and digital twins to build experiences makes a nation's cultural heritage accessible to a broader audience. The metaverse has no spatial boundaries, creating spaces for exhibitions and installations that have no physical restrictions. Experiences made available digitally eliminate the need to travel, boosting education across locations. For instance, the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) has launched a virtual experience on Google Arts & Culture that allows people globally to view ancient artifacts at the microscopic level. This easy accessibility eliminates obstacles to viewing and understanding cultural relics that are usually hidden away or unavailable to the general public.

Virtual tours of historic sites

Qatar has launched several virtual cultural activations where art lovers in Qatar and globally can virtually visit the Katara Cultural Village to experience art, theater, and architecture. These exhibitions feature the work of local artists like Hadi Qasous' 'Patches,' which displays 16 unique paintings. Qatar 360 Tour has also launched a virtual walk-through experience for the Al Zubarah Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so people can click through to walk around the fort as if they were physically present.

Benefits of virtual tours

Virtual tours of cultural heritage experiences and spaces hold several benefits: 

• Cultural preservation: Digital replications of historical sites, artifacts, and landmarks help conserve and maintain cultural heritage for future generations to experience. They also facilitate cross-cultural appreciation and understanding of a nation's history.

• Reaching new audiences: The digital nature of metaverse-based cultural experiences makes cultural exhibits and art accessible to people worldwide. It also gives lesser-known artists a chance to shine and build awareness worldwide. Younger generations are also taking a stronger interest in experiencing culture through digital channels compared to traditional ways, broadening the audience base for such experiences. 

• Interactivity: Virtual tours are far from static, single-dimensional experiences. Interactive elements like clickable information, detailed 360-degree views of objects, and games make virtual museums and exhibits far more exciting. Visitors can handle and touch objects virtually or join scavenger hunts with friends and family, enriching the cultural experience.

3D reconstructions of ancient Qatar

Reconstructing ancient sites and artifacts through 3D scanning and modeling is critical to preserving them for years so researchers, scientists, and the general public can access them indefinitely. In archaeology, traditional excavation strategies can damage delicate objects and structures. With 3D reconstruction, high-definition digital models of sites are created without contact, recording details without causing physical damage. Virtual 3D replicas are also highly beneficial for virtual animations like walk-throughs and fly-throughs, giving audiences a clear view of the site from multiple perspectives.

In the northeastern part of Qatar, the ancient city of Al Jassasiya has immaculate stone carvings dating back thousands of years. The heritage site is home to 874 intricate Neolithic carvings. 3D reconstruction for such locations can be extremely beneficial as it allows precise visualizations of the rock carvings, giving viewers a deeper understanding of the site without risking any damage. 

Technological aspects

Photogrammetry and LiDAR are key technologies behind 3D reconstruction:

• Photogrammetry: Archaeologists, historians, and cultural departments often use photogrammetry to capture several 2D images of a site or object from multiple angles. This string of images is used to calculate the position of different elements in a three-dimensional space or object.

• Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR): This technology helps examine spaces by assessing information about the ground and other geospatial factors to create a 3D digital twin model. Positional accuracy is achieved by using laser scanners and sensors to measure the time taken for pulses to bounce back after reaching a surface to determine the position of an element and reconstruct the 3D object.   

Educational impact

3D reconstructions of historical sites can be highly beneficial for students and researchers, allowing them to explore locations, revisit ancient periods and cultures, and experience events to enhance learning. A publication by HP states that 7 out of 10 teachers prefer teaching concepts with virtual reality (VR) to simulate experiences relevant to coursework. This form of experiential learning can deepen learner comprehension and improve engagement. 

For students learning Qatari history, 3D models and virtual immersions can allow them to digitally explore landmark locations such as the ancient Al Zubarah Fort, the historic pearl diving sites, and the traditional souqs of Doha. They also help students visualize and better understand aspects of Qatari history, like architectural styles, cultural practices, and individuals' daily lives.

Digital twins of museums and artifacts

Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical objects or environments created to accurately mirror and simulate their physical counterparts' functioning and appearance. These interactive 3D models are made by integrating historical data and data collected from photogrammetry, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Building Information Modeling (BIM), and 3D scanning.

Museums use this technology to build replicas of their exhibitions and objects. A precise digital twin can be created by capturing data from a museum's physical spaces and artifacts from every angle. This helps preserve these artifacts while also making them accessible to visitors who can interact with them.

For instance, the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha has a vast collection of Islamic art from across three continents. MIA created a 3D digital twin of the museum to allow visitors to access the space through their phones or desktops. Users can walk through different corridors, visit galleries, and view the museum's architectural features from around the world.

Detailed examination of artifacts

To help digitally preserve old relics and artifacts, 3D scanning technology creates a virtual replica of the object. Visitors, researchers, scientists, and historians globally can get a detailed view of unique artifacts and easily document, distribute, and preserve these digital items. This helps maintain the object's original structure, avoiding the risk of any physical damage that could occur over time.

Interactive 3D digital twins of ancient manuscripts online allow users to explore rare texts in detail. These models preserve historical content, enhance accessibility for researchers and the public, and promote cultural heritage education by providing an immersive way to study and appreciate historical documents.

Preservation and conservation

Digital twins aid in the preservation and conservation of cultural artifacts. These dynamic virtual models monitor the condition of historical artifacts in real-time. They track metrics like temperature, humidity, and any other environmental factors that can affect the object's physical state. This continuous tracking helps the digital twin identify potential risks and issues so that preventive action can be taken before deterioration occurs. Digital twins can also simulate multiple conservation and restoration tactics to suggest the best plan of action to preserve a historical site or object.

Virtual cultural festivals and events

The 3D internet is a great space to recreate notable historical events, festivals, and religious celebrations so people can participate and appreciate these experiences across cultures. It creates a rich platform for people from different nationalities to learn about a country's traditions and cultures and participate in their local celebrations. Individuals can attend these events as avatars along with their friends and family, maintaining a strong sense of community in such events.

For instance, Milaha, a leading maritime and logistics services company, hosted a virtual celebration for Qatar National Day 2020. The celebration involved virtual events, including the traditional Qatari parade and live competitions. Visitors could also take a tour of a traditional village in a 3D environment, viewing cultural monuments and interacting with others through games.

Such events can increase participation and inclusivity across borders, eliminating travel costs and offering flexibility. It creates a unique environment where people from different cultures can join events and celebrate. For example, hosting a virtual Dhow Festival would allow audiences worldwide, from Europe to Asia, to experience the culture of Qatar and Qatari boat craftsmanship. A virtual festival could create an inclusive space for people from different backgrounds to view traditional handicrafts, join competitions, and experience Qatari heritage without having to bear heavy costs and inconvenience.