{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,22]],"date-time":"2025-12-22T04:37:05Z","timestamp":1766378225885,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,7]],"date-time":"2025-05-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1746576000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Virtual Worlds"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper presents an augmented reality (AR) mobile application developed for Android devices, which brings five bust sculptures of historical personalities of the city of Komotini, Greece, to \u2018life\u2019 using the Unity engine. These busts narrate their achievements in two languages, Greek and English, to educate visitors on historical and cultural heritage and provide a comprehensive glimpse into the area\u2019s past using 3D models, textures, and animations tailored to the educational content. Based on the users\u2019 location, the application provides an interactive educational experience, allowing the users to explore the history and characteristics of the busts in an innovative way. The users may interact with the busts using markerless AR, discover information and historical facts about them, and stimulate their understanding of the busts\u2019 significance in the context of local history and culture. Interactive elements, such as videos and 3D animations, are incorporated to enrich the learning experience. A location-based knowledge quiz game was also developed for this purpose. The application was evaluated by statistical analysis to measure the effect of using the application on the involvement of users in the educational process and to study the users\u2019 satisfaction and experience. This approach revealed that the proposed AR app is effective in providing educational content, promotes active user participation, and provides a high level of user satisfaction.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/virtualworlds4020018","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,7]],"date-time":"2025-05-07T04:20:26Z","timestamp":1746591626000},"page":"18","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Integrating Augmented Reality and Geolocation for Outdoor Interactive Educational Experiences"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"4","author":[{"given":"Christos","family":"Mourelatos","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Communication and Digital Media, University of Western Macedonia, 52100 Kastoria, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5888-6949","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michalis","family":"Vrigkas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Communication and Digital Media, University of Western Macedonia, 52100 Kastoria, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3145534","article-title":"A Survey of Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality for Cultural Heritage","volume":"11","author":"Bekele","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. 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