Augmented Reality apps for tourism storytelling are evolving, covering diverse topics and objectives. This research defines a fast and effective methodology for developing AR applications for smartphones and tablets by directly using digital survey output. The approach relies on two key concepts: first, employing acquired digital data directly to bypass laborious raw data processing and modelling; second, using a flexible AR system that requires no targets (targetless), images (image tracking), or GPS (geo-positioned AR), making it effective even in complex indoor spaces. The study tests the Immersal SDK System with a mobile mapping system (Leica Geosystem BLK2GO) to establish a digital survey reference for AR positioning. Immersal’s Visual Positioning System (VPS) matches real-time camera images with a spatial map of visual features from a mobile mapping dataset. By identifying key points in real-time images and comparing them with pre-collected data, devices can determine their position and orientation, effectively using the environment as a marker. This solution enables seamless integration of digital content with the real world. The Unity game engine is used to build and customise the AR application. The Milan Cathedral serves as the case study, with designed itineraries tailored to different tourist experiences: a “quick journey” with general cathedral information, an “artistic journey” exploring architecture and art, and a “treasure hunt”. This study highlights AR’s potential to enhance cultural education, engage tourists, and improve heritage management, demonstrating its role in enriching architectural and cultural assets.
Immersion Through Extended Reality as a Tool Applied to Wayfinding Inside Hospitals
The paper investigates the use of Extended Reality (XR), Artificial Intelligence, GPS technologies, and 3D modeling to improve wayfinding systems inside and around hospitals, especially for vulnerable users with sensory, cognitive, or motor impairments. The study proposes a multilevel immersion framework combining Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to guide users from urban-scale navigation to indoor hospital routing. The methodology integrates 360° scans, 3D models, geolocation systems, audio and visual guidance, VR glasses, touchscreens, and AI-based route optimization to create accessible navigation experiences adapted to different disability groups. The research develops a scalable navigation strategy structured across urban, environmental, and architectural scales, emphasizing inclusive healthcare accessibility and user-centered spatial orientation.
Augmented Reality Application for BIM Maintenance Feedback via Streaming Platforms
The paper proposes a BIM-based maintenance workflow integrating augmented reality, panoramic image tagging, visual programming, and data streaming platforms for facility management. The methodology combines 360° spherical photography, BIM models, Dynamo scripting, Python automation, Speckle streaming, Grasshopper, and Fologram AR interfaces to create a real-time feedback system for building maintenance. Users can report anomalies directly within panoramic virtual tours, while maintenance operators interact with the BIM model through augmented reality interfaces connected to the building database. The workflow enables automated synchronization between physical spaces and digital twins, facilitating damage detection, metadata updating, and collaborative maintenance operations through accessible mobile and AR devices.
AR in the Architecture Domain: State of the Art
Augmented reality (AR) allows the real and digital worlds to converge and overlap in a new way of observation and understanding. The architectural field can significantly benefit from AR applications, due to their systemic complexity in terms of knowledge and process management. Global interest and many research challenges are focused on this field, thanks to the conjunction of technological and algorithmic developments from one side, and the massive digitization of built data. A significant quantity of research in the AEC and educational fields describes this state of the art. Moreover, it is a very fragmented domain, in which specific advances or case studies are often described without considering the complexity of the whole development process. The article illustrates the entire AR pipeline development in architecture, from the conceptual phase to its application, highlighting each step’s specific aspects. This storytelling aims to provide a general overview to a non-expert, deepening the topic and stimulating a democratization process. The aware and extended use of AR in multiple areas of application can lead a new way forward for environmental understanding, bridging the gap between real and virtual space in an innovative perception of architecture.