Immersive experiences let us connect to the past, the present and the future, and as such offer value to digital cultural heritage efforts.Ĭommunicating and understanding climate induced environmental changes can be challenging, especially using traditional representations such as graphs, maps or photos. Additionally, they can be used anywhere in the world or on the campus itself as a way to enable remote and in situ experiences and learning.

The resulting experiences can be accessed through the web but also through head mounted displays (HMDs) and mobile phones in combination with VR viewers such as the Google Cardboard. Using state of the art 3D modeling and immersive technologies, we created a historic 3D model and immersive experiences of Penn State, exemplarily for the 1922 campus. Inspired by these efforts, we accessed this information and took it to the next level. Originally kept safe in metal drawers, the library has embarked on a journey to digitize this abundance of information, combine it with other media such as photographs, and make it accessible through a web interface. One such treasure cataloged in The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) Libraries is a collection of over 33,000 Sanborn™ Fire Insurance Maps. Libraries have been the key to preserving culture and historic legacy for centuries.

Lumenrt and oculus rift