Application of ICT and augmented reality as an initiative to promote the architectural heritage. Case studies from Spain in order to implementation in Costa Rican heritage contexts

Augmented reality is a technology that has been widely developed for academic, educational and entertainment purposes, several countries have used this technology to promote culture and urban tourism in heritage sites; it is a few explored technologies in Costa Rica, thus, theoretical and applied research would facilitate its consolidation in this country in order to promote and develop the architectural heritage. This article, based on study cases, aims to investigate the operation, proposal and dissemination of mobile applications that use ICT for the tourism development environments with architectonic heritage interest. This study is based on a series of interviews with professionals from Autonoma de Madrid University who allowed defining the criteria and then, analyze the operation of the mobile apps at Segovia, Toledo and Barcelona cities, places that uses these new technologies to offer their cultural heritage. As a main conclusion, from this research was elaborated a series of conclusions and recommendations in order to implement these methods in heritage sites