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Museum of Digitized Heritage

VR experience for Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest

Be immersed in awe-inspiring 3D scans of world heritage sites. Completely free.

 

Vision Pro international link.       Meta Quest link.

 

 

 

About the museum

A video still. Play button. 6:38
Walkthrough of the MDH app.

 

About the Museum

 

The Museum of Digitized Heritage (MDH) is a non-profit project to immersively share 3D scans of cultural heritage sites from around the world. And share them with anyone, anywhere, for free.

The project is a collaboration between the Future Museum Media Innovation Studio at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Institute for Cultural and Creative Industry, and Studio SpeciaLAND (Shanghai). Scans are sourced from multiple non-profit research organizations that are, together, creating a vast and amazing digital archive of global historic sites.

 

The app, v.1.0

The MDH VR experience App can be downloaded for Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro. Explore high-resolution 3D scans of exceptional cultural heritage sites. Walk around these huge spaces, or teleport from the comfort of your chair. As you travel around the site, you can trigger audio guides informed by current historical research.

This first edition shares four historic sites, all within the La Mancha region of Spain:

Calatrava La Nueva Church  (c. 1217) —  An amazing example of late-Romanesque and early Gothic architecture, this medieval church served as the religious center for the Calatrava order of warrior-monks for almost 600 years.

San Vicente Church  (12th cent.) —  This beautiful Romanesque church, dedicated to Saint Vicente, has served the community of Sigüenza Spain for more than 8 centuries.

Sanctuary of Las Virtudes  (chapel vestry, c. 1694) —  The baroque frescoes decorating this sanctuary are some of the finest examples in the La Mancha region. We tour the vestry, and its exceptional frescoed ceilings and walls.

Grand Prior's Bridge  (c. 1799) —  This neoclassical bridge was part of a major Spanish renaissance construction project, the Gran Prior Canal, designed by the famous architect, Juan de Villaneuva.

All four site-scans were created and shared (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the non-profit research organization, Global Digital Heritage, in collaboration with their partners in the Castilla-La Mancha region of Spain.

 

Key features:

  • High resolution 3D scans
  • Spaces can be explored by walking, or by teleporting
  • In-palm menus for each site
  • Bubbles found around the space can be popped to hear more about the site
  • Selectable languages: English, Chinese, Spanish
  • Internet not required (all 4 sites bundled in download)

Great for learning, or just enjoying these awe-inspiring heritage sites!

 

 

Terms


Terms of Service

Following are the terms of service for the App, Museum of Digitized Heritage. By using the App, you agree to comply with these Terms. Please read them carefully.


1. Your Acceptance of these Terms

By using the App, you affirm that you are at least 12 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into this agreement. If you are using the App on behalf of a minor aged 12 or older, you accept these Terms on their behalf and agree to supervise their use of the App.


2. App Access and Use


2.1 License

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to use the App solely for personal, non-commercial purposes. You may not sublicense or transfer your rights under these Terms to any third party.

2.2 Prohibited Activities

You agree not to:

  • Use the App for any illegal or unauthorized purpose.
  • Attempt to use the App in a manner not intended.
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to extract the source code of the App.
  • Violate any applicable laws or regulations while using the App.

3. Privacy and Data Usage

Please review our Privacy Policy, which outlines any collection and use of your data. By using the App, you consent to the practices described in our Privacy Policy.


4. Updates and Changes

We may release updates to the App to improve performance or add new features.


5. Termination

We reserve the right to terminate or suspend your access to the App, with or without cause and without notice, at our sole discretion. Upon termination, your rights to use the App will cease.


6. Disclaimers


6.1 No Warranty

The App is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

6.2 Limitation of Liability

We shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, arising from your use of the App.


7. Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions about our Terms of Service, please contact us at museum@fmmis.org.


 

Privacy


Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy governs your use of the Museum of Digitized Heritage VR App, created by the Future Museum Media Innovation Studio, at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Studio SpeciaLAND. By using the App, you agree to the terms described in this Privacy Policy.


1. Data Collection

We do not intend to collect any personal information from you while you use the Museum of Digitized Heritage. Some general data may be collected through standard App marketplace analytics, and by the platform itself (i.e., Apple, Meta Quest, etc.). As well, in the case of an error in the app we may collect Log Data on your. This Log Data may include information such as your device Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, device name, operating system version, the configuration of the App when utilizing our Service, the time and date of your use of the Service, and other statistics.


2. How Your Data Is Used and Retained

Data collected during the App use is used only for game play and is not retained, except as noted above. Anonymized information may be gathered and used for analytics from 3rd party services to help us improve the app. If you contact us, we will save your email and contact information for communication purposes.


3. Changes to This Policy

Future versions of this App may include features that require more data gathering (such as voice prompts). This privacy policy may be updated for future versions of the App.


4. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact us at: museum@fmmis.org.


 

Credits


Project Credits


Project Leaders

Prof. Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, Director of the Future Museum Studio at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Institute for Cultural and Creative Industry
Terrence (Te) Bao, Founder, Studio SpeciaLAND


Studio SpeciaLAND Members
  • Terrence (Te) Bao, Lead Producer
  • Yun Hong, Creative Director
  • Ariel Zhao, Project Manager
  • Gray Zhang, Technical Director
  • Bowen Sun, Chief Engineer
  • Elwin Wang, Asset Manager
  • Tengyun Huang, 2D Designer

Thank you, Lu Wenbo (陆文博), for 3D model assistance.


Cultural Heritage Scans

All four site images were created and made available by Global Digital Heritage and GDH-Afrika and are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. The scans have been simplified and compressed in order to fit this VR platform.

The not-for-profit organization, Global Digital Heritage, has scanned hundreds of sites and thousands of artifacts in countries around the world. Since 2017, they have been working with the regional government of Castille-La Mancha in Spain to scan and preserve over 50 historic sites and museum collections. We present in this project a small selection of those amazing sites in the La Mancha region. Their scans have been compressed and simplified to fit the VR platform.


The Future Museum Studio (FMMIS) is a research center, founded in 2021, at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Institute for Cultural and Creative Industry. It is a long-term project to partner with museums and image archives to create new-technology media experiences of history.

Studio SpeciaLAND is an artistic team dedicated to the cross-media integration of art and technology. Members are spread across Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou, and include new media artists, visual designers, space designers, product designers, creative programming engineers, game developers, IoT engineers, and others. SpeciaLAND’s creative work spans virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, interactive motion sensing, mechanical installations, visual interaction, stage lighting installations, and more. Their goal is to break through conventional thinking, explore diverse forms of artistic expression, and integrate, intervene, and embed art into people's daily lives.


Special thanks to the Institute for Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the Shanghai Education Bureau for their support of the Future Museum Media Innovation Studio, and to Global Digital Heritage for making these scans available.