XR Narratives from Informative Models: The Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella and the Castrum Caetani in the Appian Way (UNESCO)

Abstract. Extended Reality (XR) is recognized as a form of cultural opportunity for transferring knowledge to the broader public through digital heritage. Mostly, it is based on models developed discreetly and with passive fruition. The growth of informative models and geoinformation systems opens the door to multiple potentialities, feeding and multiplying narratives where visitors can orient their own interests. The paper explores the potential of developing interactive web models that enable users to navigate narratives and layers of information within a shared geospatial framework. It proposes a scalable methodology through which the development of XR in a complex heritage context, such as the Appian Way, could support the integration of multi-scale, multi-temporal stratified layers (e.g., ArcheoInfrastructure, ArcheoLandscape, archaeological and architectural layers), allowing for continuous future implementation by diverse subjects. The increased availability of quality models derived from rigorous multi-scale surveying, including LiDAR, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), Mobile Mapping Systems (MMS), and photogrammetry (by using different cameras and drones), represents a resource that can be reused to enrich XR content and amplify the impact of efforts made in their creation within research and conservation projects. The multiplication of diverse data sources and models necessitates the correlation of informational nodes within geographic space, an aspect still underutilized in current XR environments. This shift points toward the development of geoXR. The research investigates how content-driven informative models, such as Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM) nodes, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and 3D landscape information systems, can be interrelated into an interoperable and interactive geoXR platform.