Collaborative Visualization of an Archaeological Excavation

We are developing a collaborative system for offsite visualization of an archaeological dig site through both virtual and augmented reality. Multiple users, wearing tracked, head-worn, see-through displays, can interact with the environment using tracked, instrumented gloves, a multi-user, multi-touch, projected table surface, large wall displays and tracked hand-held displays. We take advantage of our ongoing work on 3D multimodal interaction [14,20] to allow users to combine speech with head, hand, and arm gestures to aid them in their tasks. Although the dig site can be visualized as a purely virtual environment, when users collaborate using the projected table, their see-through head-worn displays allow them to see personalized overlaid material in context with the shared, projected table surface.