AR Sightseeing: Comparing Information Placements at Outdoor Historical Heritage Sites using Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) has influenced the presentation of historical information to tourists and museum visitors by making the information more immersive and engaging. Since smartphones and AR glasses are the primary devices to present AR information to users, it is essential to understand how the information about a historical site can be presented effectively and what type of device is best suited for information placements. In this paper, we investigate the placement of two types of content, historical images and informational text, for smartphones and AR glasses in the context of outdoor historical sites. For this, we explore three types of placements: (1) on-body, (2) world, and (3) overlay. To evaluate all nine combinations of text and image placements for smartphone and AR glasses, we conducted a controlled experiment (N = 18) at outdoor historical landmarks. We discovered that on-body image and text placements were the most convenient compared to overlay and world for both devices. Furthermore, participants found themselves more successful in exploring historical sites using a smartphone than AR glasses. Although interaction with a smartphone was more convenient, participants found exploring AR content using AR glasses more fun. © 2022 Association for Computing Machinery.