Augmented palaeontological sites: an interactive application for smart phones and tablets of the Sacco river valley in Italy

The proposed research experiences the use of new technologies to promote information and scientific study of prehistoric sites, which are connected to the evolution of man in his environment. Through the development and use of smart tools (smartphones and tablets) the research focuses the attention to a scientific heritage of global interest, such as that represented by the Sacco river valley (close to Anagni, in the southern part of Lazio territory - Italy), where 2 million years ago were present numerous lakes around which lived plants and animals now extinct. The fruition of sites and paleonthological evidences is achieved through the use of new technologies, developed and applied to the knowledge of cultural heritage, working on the possibilities of virtual exploration and visualization of sites and remains allowed by an APP designed for smartphones and tablets. The APP guides the visitor through some prehistoric sites, and, for each of them, allows to display a general information fact sheet, which containes a descriptive/scientific text and a collection of relevant iconography. The fact sheet is supported by additional functional resources to obtain an integrated knowledge of the area and its presence: - site’s visualization in augmented reality (AR + ), with geolocated icons, related to paleontological remains discovered during the excavations, and with the possibility of more specific views and information sheets for each of them; - a 360° panoramic view of the current state of the site today and its morphology referred to two million years ago, with the possibility of passing from one to another in real time, by means of a «time bar» control function; - an index/abacus of the animals found in the site in recent excavations. For each animal evidence found on the sites, there is a specific «animal fact sheet», designed with reference to its cataloguing with the ability to view and manage a 3D model reconstruction of the animal itself (such 3D can also be extended to the discovered plant fossils), integrated with a text description and a gallery of reconstructive drawings developed by paleontologists