The ROMA X-PAND project aims to make the best use of currently available technologies to meet the needs of cultural venue managers, employing advanced solutions to create services that offer an engaging and highly educational cultural experience.
ROMA X-PAND provides this type of experience through a mobile application that accompanies visitors during their tours of archaeological sites and monuments, virtually displaying in space the ancient artifacts – such as statues, columns, and more – that once decorated the rooms they are exploring.
The educational goal behind this technological proposal is to offer cultural visitors a contextualized understanding of ancient artifacts that are now scattered across numerous museums, often not located in the same city or region as the site being visited. Moreover, the spaces within monuments, now stripped of their magnificent architecture, mosaics, and marble decorations, are restored to their former glory through virtual reconstructions featuring 3D models of ancient objects, accompanied by descriptive and informative texts.
The technological innovation offered by ROMA X-PAND offers lies in the use of the precision positioning lies in its use of the precise positioning capabilities enabled by Galileo’s High Accuracy Service (HAS). This technology makes it possible to virtually position artifacts with high precision in their original locations, where known, or wherever the site manager deems most appropriate.
But ROMA X-PAND goes beyond this. While it focuses on delivering certified and innovative cultural experiences for visitors, it also provides tools that support cultural site managers in enhancing and protecting the site.
Managers will have access to a web platform that communicates directly with the app, collecting and processing data based on users’ browsing preferences within the mobile application.
These statistics, whose input data is fully anonymized and aggregated, serve as valuable insights for site managers, helping them understand visitor sentiment regarding the cultural offerings and plan improvements where expectations are not fully met.
In addition to the data collected by the mobile application, the platform also integrates sentiment analysis results. Through natural language queries, it provides an assessment of comments made by visitors and users of cultural sites across the web; comments that would otherwise remain unknown.
Furthermore, directly from the web platform, managers will be able to input descriptions of rooms and artifacts that will appear within the mobile application, ensuring the accuracy and quality of the information they intend to share.
Safeguarding and protection of cultural sites are addressed through a dual approach:
- Direct safeguarding: through the web platform, managers will have access to InSAR satellite surveys, viewable on a dedicated 3D GIS and accompanied by qualitative and quantitative reports;
- Contributory protection: visitors located within a designated buffer zone will be encouraged to submit geolocated photos and comments through the app, contributing to site monitoring.
ROMA X-PAND therefore presents itself as a circular project that “bridges the gap” between managers and visitors. It aims not only for technological advancement but also for certified, responsible use, placing the visitor at the center of both the improvement of the cultural offering and the protection of heritage sites.
ROMA X-PAND is part of the ASI (Italian Space Agency) call for proposals “Demonstration projects for integrated services and applications,” supporting the assignment of research and development activities across thematic areas.
The project will be completed in November 2026.
For further information, please contact Nicole Dore at nicole.dore@nais-solutions.it