Backend Infrastructure Supporting Audio Augmented Reality and Storytelling

Today, museums are looking for new ways to attract and engage audience. These include virtual exhibitions, augmented reality and 3D modelling based applications, and interactive digital storytelling. The target of all these activities is to provide better experiences for audiences that are very familiar with the digital world. In augmented reality (AR) and interactive digital storytelling (IDS) systems, visual presentation has been dominant. In contrast to this trend, we have chosen to concentrate on auditory presentation. A key element for this is a backend service supporting different client applications. This paper discusses our experiences from designing a portable open source based audio digital asset management system (ADAM), which supports interaction with smart phones and tablets containing audio augmented reality and audio story applications. We have successfully implemented ADAM system and evaluated it in the Museum of Technology in Helsinki, Finland.