Unveiling Nottingham's Hidden History through Augmented Reality

Abstract

The research identified and tested the use of Augmented Reality to investigate and restore the forgotten yet unique identity of Nottingham (UK). Since the building of the Nottingham Castle in 1068 by the French Normans, until the eighteen Century, two populations lived almost segregated in Nottingham: the Anglo-Saxons in the English borough, and the French-Normans in the French borough on the opposite hill. The two Boroughs were divided by the Market Wall that was acting as an administrative and legal boundary of the boroughs but also a physical division of the Saturday Market. Data collection was finalised to the mapping of all historical architectural and archaeological data into layers, and they had been investigated using locative media on a website platform. The research team included researchers from Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, that recreated a 3D version of the Market Wall into an Augmented Reality App to be used with smartphones. The aim was to allow the citizens to visualise the Wall in its original position and size in the Old Market Square, discovering and experiencing the ‘unknown’ roots of the city through virtual immersive archaeology. Specifically, the aim was to realise a user-friendly digital tool to enable a broader dissemination of the research output embracing young generations. The research demonstrated the possibility to effectively share, display, and promote heritage to improve both community awareness, and the visitor economy of Nottingham. It argues that revealing the intangible heritage of Nottingham could act as a stimulus to enhance and re-vitalise social and cultural engagement.