The Virtual Sydney Rocks: A Case Study of a Virtual Heritage Environment

Many heritage objects and places are under threat of being loved to death. Visitor numbers to many popular sites are limited and most heritage objects can only be looked at, not touched or manipulated in any way. Virtual heritage offers a worldwide audience the ability to interact with virtual copies of heritage objects and places. Virtual heritage resources vary widely in their range and scope, some models can be viewed at different angles, some offer reconstructions of buildings and places at various times and some offer educational games. The Virtual Sydney Rocks and associated Virtual Sydney Rocks Guidebook is designed to be an engaging and informative virtual heritage resource that allows users to explore the oldest part of Sydney over a 200-year period. Users set the time and date to determine the sun position, the weather and the buildings and vehicles that are displayed. Users have a first person view and can easily move around and explore the built environment. They can also set the time speed and view a time-lapsed animation of the changing model. The Virtual Sydney Rocks Guidebook is displayed on a second screen and dynamically linked to objects in the Virtual Sydney Rocks. The Virtual Sydney Rocks will be used to conduct research into the effect that different user engagement strategies have on the sense of �being there� experienced by the user.