Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia

Beacon Virtua is a project to document and virtually preserve a historically significant offshore island as a virtual reality experience. In 1629, survivors of the wreck of VOC ship Batavia took refuge on Beacon Island, Western Australia, followed by a mutiny and massacre. In the 1950s the island be...

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Main Authors: Woods, Andrew, Oliver, Nick, Bourke, Paul, Green, Jeremy, Paterson, Alistair
Other Authors: McCarthy, John K
Format: Book Chapter
Language:English
Published: Springer 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.springer.com/
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75206
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author Woods, Andrew
Oliver, Nick
Bourke, Paul
Green, Jeremy
Paterson, Alistair
author2 McCarthy, John K
author_facet McCarthy, John K
Woods, Andrew
Oliver, Nick
Bourke, Paul
Green, Jeremy
Paterson, Alistair
author_sort Woods, Andrew
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Beacon Virtua is a project to document and virtually preserve a historically significant offshore island as a virtual reality experience. In 1629, survivors of the wreck of VOC ship Batavia took refuge on Beacon Island, Western Australia, followed by a mutiny and massacre. In the 1950s the island became the base of a successful fishing industry, and in 1963 human remains from Batavia were located. The fishing community has recently been moved off the island to protect and preserve the site and allow a thorough archaeological investigation of the island. Beacon Virtua exposes users to the history of both the shipwreck survivors and the fishing community. The project uses the virtual environment development software Unity to present a simulation of the island, with 3D models of buildings and jetties, photogrammetric 3D reconstructions of graves and other features, 360° photographic panoramas, and information on the history of the island. The experience has been made available on a wide range of different platforms including via a web-page, as part of an exhibition, and on head mounted displays (VR headsets). This chapter discusses the features included in Beacon Virtua, the storytelling techniques used in the simulation, the challenges encountered and solutions used during the project.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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language English
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-752062019-04-08T05:07:18Z Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia Woods, Andrew Oliver, Nick Bourke, Paul Green, Jeremy Paterson, Alistair McCarthy, John K Benjamin, Jonathan Winton, Trevor van Duivenvoorde, Wendy 3D Visualization Beacon Virtua Maritime Landscape Storytelling Unity Virtual Reality Beacon Virtua is a project to document and virtually preserve a historically significant offshore island as a virtual reality experience. In 1629, survivors of the wreck of VOC ship Batavia took refuge on Beacon Island, Western Australia, followed by a mutiny and massacre. In the 1950s the island became the base of a successful fishing industry, and in 1963 human remains from Batavia were located. The fishing community has recently been moved off the island to protect and preserve the site and allow a thorough archaeological investigation of the island. Beacon Virtua exposes users to the history of both the shipwreck survivors and the fishing community. The project uses the virtual environment development software Unity to present a simulation of the island, with 3D models of buildings and jetties, photogrammetric 3D reconstructions of graves and other features, 360° photographic panoramas, and information on the history of the island. The experience has been made available on a wide range of different platforms including via a web-page, as part of an exhibition, and on head mounted displays (VR headsets). This chapter discusses the features included in Beacon Virtua, the storytelling techniques used in the simulation, the challenges encountered and solutions used during the project. 2019 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75206 10.1007/978-3-030-03635-5_13 English http://www.springer.com/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Springer fulltext
spellingShingle 3D Visualization
Beacon Virtua
Maritime Landscape
Storytelling
Unity
Virtual Reality
Woods, Andrew
Oliver, Nick
Bourke, Paul
Green, Jeremy
Paterson, Alistair
Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia
title Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia
title_full Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia
title_fullStr Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia
title_full_unstemmed Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia
title_short Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia
title_sort beacon virtua: a virtual reality simulation detailing the recent and shipwreck history of beacon island, western australia
topic 3D Visualization
Beacon Virtua
Maritime Landscape
Storytelling
Unity
Virtual Reality
url http://www.springer.com/
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75206