Metadata schema for context-aware augmented reality applications in cultural heritage domain

As cultural heritage domain enters the digital heritage era based on advanced digital technology, Augmented Reality(AR) technology has arisen as a new medium for enhancing user experience by augmenting additional information or content. Although there have been several AR applications in the cultural heritage domain, insufficient re-usability and interoperability of AR applications has inhibited the development of AR ecosystems. To address these issues, we propose the 5W1H-based metadata schema for context-aware AR applications in the cultural heritage domain, which consists of the PoI-AR Anchor-AR Contents relation based on Who, When, Where, What, Why, How and its whole metadata structure. We also propose a modified AR reference model to investigate the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed schema. The 5W1H-based metadata schema provides a context-aware mediating platform that secures extensibility for further contextual information, and its whole metadata structure ensures the re-usability of the AR contents and interoperability of AR applications. The modified AR reference model describes the universal workflow and the generic framework for AR applications to encourage compatibility of following AR applications. Through these proposals, contextualized content retrieval according to user preference will be possible for AR applications in the cultural heritage domain.