Towards Crowd-Sourced Collaborative Fragment Matching

Abstract

Many artifacts of our archaeological heritage are preserved only in fragments. The reassembly of these parts to their original form is therefore an essential task for archaeologists. Our project aims at incorporating the intellect of many participants from the broad public in the solution of this complex task. To this end, we develop a web-based 3D environment, in which users can interactively and collaboratively reassemble virtual fragments of real-world artifacts, supported by computer-aided methods. Our primary research focus lies on identifying how to best design and setup such a system in order to maximize the collaboration efficiency. By participating in this open reassembly process, users can gain valuable insight into the archaeological task, thus raising awareness for our common cultural heritage in a multitude of people.