In a new agreement between the Greek government and Microsoft, Ancient Olympia will be digitally preserved.
The partnership employs artificial intelligence to map the site and augmented reality to aid with the restoration of the Olympic Games’ historic home.
Viewers will be able to tour the region as it was almost 2,000 years ago.
With its own ideas for the so-called metaverse, Microsoft hopes to compete with Facebook.
It just introduced a metaverse for meetings called Microsoft Teams, and it wants to turn Minecraft and other games it owns into more immersive 3D worlds.
People may visit the site virtually or in person via an augmented-reality smartphone app thanks to a partnership with the Greek government. HoloLens headsets may be used to overlay a digital representation of the Olympic Museum in Athens.
Microsoft’s smart glasses for augmented reality HoloLens displays information, blends with the actual environment, and simulates a virtual world using many sensors, sophisticated optics, and holograms.
The ancient Olympic Stadium, the temples of Zeus and Hera, and the workshop of the famed artist Phidias are among the 27 sites to be saved.
The structures are as similar to their original shapes as feasible, and incorporate historical chronology detailing the site’s evolution across time, as well as representations of artifacts from each period.
Microsoft worked with technology startup Iconem, which specializes in 3D digitisation of historic structures, as part of its AI for Cultural Heritage effort.
After taking hundreds of thousands of photographs of the location with on-the-ground cameras and drones, Microsoft AI analysed the data to generate models.
“This technology’s cultural consequences are limitless. For the first time, tourists from all over the world may virtually visit Olympia, the cradle of democracy, and immerse themselves in history “Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek Prime Minister, declared as much.
“The effort to digitally conserve Ancient Olympia is a magnificent achievement in cultural heritage, combining humanity and cutting-edge technology together to benefit the globe, and empower future generations with new ways to study our past,” said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft.
