The reuse of 3D archaeological data has opened up new opportunities for education, tourism, and research. Through advanced digital tools, historical city models have been integrated into various applications, allowing users to explore and interact with past environments.

This use case combines the toolkits for creating large scale digitised historical 3D maps of cities, for predicting building height using AI-based methods, the automatic geo-location and orientation pipelines for historical photographs and the tools for mobile and desktop access and visualisation. These models serve as the foundation for location-based content in tourism and heritage information systems. The project showcased its work at major events such as the COSMO Exhibition in Dresden, Researchers' Night in Jena, Digital Gipfel 2023, and the Interactive Science Lab in Dresden. In total, 6,430 models of Trento and 364 models of Dresden and Jena were ingested into the Data Space, ensuring open access with high metadata quality. The 4D City Browser and 4DCity applications enable users to explore these models through desktop, mobile, AR, and VR platforms.

Explore Dresden in 4D Browser

Learn how to use the 4D Browser with this manual.

This scenario highlights the transformation of 3D models into educational resources, focusing on the historic Vaalkenbourg quarter in Amsterdam from the 17th to 19th centuries. The project digitized over 200 buildings and integrated them into Europeana through Zenodo to enhance historical education. These reconstructions provide insights into Amsterdam’s urban transformation and are available for academic and public engagement.

Explore Amsterdam in 4D Browser

The city of Sion, Switzerland, has been turned into a virtual research environment, enabling historians and genealogy researchers to explore its past from three significant historical periods (1630, 1770, 1820). A total of 1,359 models were integrated into the 4D City Browser, enriched with metadata and genealogical records. These reconstructions support academic research by providing a detailed view of Sion’s historical evolution and urban development.

Explore Sion in 4D Browser