Making Place: Designing and Building an Engaging, Interactive and Pedagogical Historical World

Digital visualisation technologies have transformed the field of heritage. The digital re-creation of a place demands much more than architectural modeling. Designers of virtual heritage places can learn from commercial computer games which can be very successful at creating a sense of place. The Virtual Sydney Rocks is designed to undertake research into the role that user preference for interaction strategy has on engagement in a Virtual Heritage Environment. Users can explore an experiential model of Sydney Cove between 1788 and 2008 in three different ways; by self directed exploration, by playing a game or by taking a tour. Users set the date and time to determine the position of the sun, the weather, the sounds that are heard and the buildings that are displayed. Users can also alter the speed of time. Additional information is accessed via the interlinked Virtual Sydney Rocks Guidebook.