Cultural heritage presentation in virtual environment: Czech experience

The permanently increasing graphical power of commonly used computers opens the possibility to present highly detailed and richly textured three-dimensional models of cultural complexes using the Web. Utilizing virtual reality paradigms, both experts and ordinary users can explore pieces of cultural heritage in a virtual environment. This paper introduces three different approaches to cultural heritage modeling and presentation in the Czech Republic. The first example, Celtic oppidum Zavist, represents a simple but efficient utilization of virtual reality for archaeology. The next project, Virtual Old Prague, is a complex Web-based application allowing dynamic walks through virtual cities. Such models can be theoretically of any size. Finally, the on-going EU project, Virtual Heart of Central Europe, is an example of several cultural heritage sites thematically interconnected into a common virtual environment.