**1. Introduction**

The SYNTHESIS PoP has emerged from the aggregation of three digital platforms that have been developed at the Integrated Systems Laboratory (ISL) over a period of seven years in the context of DICE (Digital Immersive Cultural Environments), a concept and architecture of a comprehensive ecosystem for the promotion of digital cultural experiences introduced by the author in 2014 and detailed in his publication, alongside with his research team at the Media Art Innovation (MAI) Unit of ISL, in 2016 [1]. The three building blocks of SYNTHESIS, namely the platforms SYNTELESIS/iGuide, AFIGISSI (Narration), and wayGoo, have been described as stand-alone platforms in the references [2–9] (in Greek), and in [10–12].

SYNTHESIS PoP aspires to create a unified digital environment for the coherent creation, management, editing, and visualization of digital material related to cultural heritage artifacts (monuments, museums, museum exhibits, art exhibitions), and the development of personalized interactive narrative experiences using mobile and VR/AR technologies for visitors to places of cultural interest.

The SYNTHESIS PoP aims to offer tools for managing a large volume of digital material, supporting various forms of digital content, such as text, images, video, audio, 3D objects, BIM objects, Unity scenes, etc., and covering a wide range of available material. These building blocks, combined with recorded stories and information, will be interconnected to compose digital exhibits that will be converted into digital experiences, either in-situ through mobile and AR technologies, or remotely through VR technologies.

SYNTHESIS will contribute to the creation of a new condition for the promotion of cultural heritage sites or museum exhibits and facilitate the management and interaction of the user/visitor with them, and the overall user experience. The PoP will results in an innovative environment for the integrated management of a large volume of digital material, the creation of narrative experiences related to digital exhibits for visualization in physical and virtual spaces, and consequently the promotion of cultural heritage by supporting: (a) the production of digital content; (b) the linking of digital content to additional multimedia digital material related to said content, such as relevant data relating to the process used for creating digital content, relevant digital and digitized audiovisual material, recorded stories and information relevant to the context of the subject matter and narrative used as the basis of creation; (c) the designing and curating a narrative flow for a deeper understanding of the content associated with the subject of an exhibition of digital material, both virtual reality and physical space, by visitors and end users; and (d) the transformation of the curation outcome into experiences for in-situ and/or distance visualization capable of mobilizing both tourist and social interest in the importance of the cultural heritage as a holistic educational-educational experience and the need for its preservation and promotion, **Figure 1**.

#### **Figure 1.**

*Curation of digital objects, creation of digital experiences through narration, and visualization with virtual and augmented reality technologies and mobile apps [1, 2, 4].*

*SYNTHESIS: A Platform of Platforms for Integrated Management, Curation, and Visualization… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98213*

**Figure 2.**

*Using graphs and graph databases for seamless digital content interconnection and digital narrative creation.*

In the context of a digital experience (be it at a natural exhibition or museum, an archeological space, a virtual space, or a hybrid environment), it is possible to connect the digital exhibits semantically and thematically digital exhibits to a physical or virtual exhibition, museum, or archeological site, through the use of graphs and graph databases (**Figure 2**). In this process, the content reporting platform wayGoo [10] is used to visualize the georeferenced narrative in an easily to understand way in a physical, virtual, or hybrid reality space.

The easy understanding of the content by the end user in the context of a narrative is achieved through the transformation of the narrative into an immersive interactive experience capable of being consumed by common mobile tablets and smartphones using AR technologies in the exhibition/museum space/archeological site, **Figure 3a**, as well as through more integrated solutions such as VR headsets and/or projection imaging technologies for remote experiences in virtual space, **Figure 3b**. A narrative can be created by artists and people in the field of culture, using an accessible and friendly graphic environment. Storytellers will not be required to possess advanced and specialized knowledge of the underlying technologies used to implement it.

SYNTHESIS is accompanied by two applications available for use by the public (**Figure 4**).

**Figure 3.** *(a) In-situ experience through AR. (b) Remote experience through VR technologies.*

#### **Figure 4.**

*VR/AR applications of the SYNTHESIS PoP to be used by the general public for immersion experiences.*


The SYNTHESIS PoP also offers advanced tools based on artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to assist the discovery of contextual correlations between digital content, digitized assets, and digital

**Figure 5.** *Schematic representation of the SYNTHESIS of platforms with blockchain functionality.*

#### *SYNTHESIS: A Platform of Platforms for Integrated Management, Curation, and Visualization… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98213*

artifacts and exhibits [13, 14]. By analyzing the structural elements of the exhibits alongside with all known connections among them, the system identifies possible undiscovered correlations and provides a multimodal and user-friendly representation and visualization of the results. AI and NLP tool and technologies are also used to implement a system of personalization and personalization of the experience in accordance to the user preferences. The personalization system recommends relevant exhibits and narratives based on user interests, in order to maximize the in-depth understanding of the content of the narrative associated with the curated experience in accordance with the curation and visualization approach of the digital content curator.

Finally, using blockchain technology, it is possible to implement smart contracts to control the use of digital content by its creator, and to track the ways of its utilization. This will safeguard the integrity of the digital content and protect the copyright and financial rights of its creator, **Figure 5**.

In summary, the main goal of the SYNTHESIS PoP is to contribute to the promotion of cultural heritage items and places of cultural interest to a global audience by visualizing the results of recording and research with VR/AR technologies and the possibility of interactive and personalized experience of the relevant content. situ and/or remotely. It also aims to highlight the work of artists and people in the field of Culture, and to promote culture to the public through tools to create innovative and engaging experiential experiences using cutting-edge technologies. It will offer visualization of an exhibition through personalized interactive narrative experiences of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) and the georeferencing of its individual exhibits in places of cultural interest (art exhibitions, museums), allowing the creation of educational and educational experiences, the mobilization of tourism and social interest, and the preservation, promotion, and curation of its exhibits. In **Figure 6**, we give an example of using the wayGoo platform [9] to visualize an

#### **Figure 6.**

*Example of using the wayGoo platform to visualize an interactive experience at the palace of Phaistos in Crete, Greece.*

#### *Heritage - New Paradigm*

interactive experience of digital representations of cultural treasures from the Minoan palace of Phaistos in Crete created with the help of the SYNTELESIS platform by the Integrated Systems Laboratory with the use of digital immersion technologies, such as content geo-reporting (wayGoo), AR/VR, and 2D/3D animation.

Additional objectives of the SYNTHESIS PoP include:


The SYNTHESIS PoP seeks to strengthen the activity in the field of Culture, Tourism and Creative (CTC) Industries, in terms of the production of digital content (entertainment, educational, cultural, commercial or other interest), and the organization of big scale activities and events. The PoP and user applications are expected to be marketed either as separate products or as a single system. The architecture and modular system of the platform, as described by its main components (wayGoo, NARRATION, iGuide VR/AR component), allows future adaptation to content and requirements of different organizations. The modularity of the SYNTHESIS PoP allows to accommodate different markets and different players in the CTC Industries in the SYNTHESIS ecosystem in a way that is expected to lead to maximizing market penetration and benefits for the constituencies of the ecosystem by enabling the efficient management of digital content, the facilitation of the conversion of digital content into experiences, and the protection of IPRs and profit flows through blockchain and smart contracts.

#### **2. SYNTHESIS and the DICE1 ecosystem**

The adoption of the SYNTHESIS PoP is expected to lead to the following benefits in each one of the five (A, B, C D, and E) sectors of the DICE Ecosystem, **Figure 7**.
