2,000 Years of history: Paris in 3D

The latest project from Dassault Systèmes with the help of historians and archaeologists is the remarkable Paris 3D Saga, an interactive model that guides you through two millennia of Paris’ history.

You are taken through the French capital at various stages of its’ development from 52 BC Gallic Oppida through the Roman city and on to the present day. You can witness the construction of the Bastille and Notre Dame and walk through winding stone streets in the middle ages and then visit the 1889 World’s Fair to see the Eiffel Tower just after completion.
The Paris 3D Saga let’s you experience the city like you have never seen it before. Go on a journey through more than 2000 years of history: discover Paris’ most famous monuments, with new 3D reconstructions carried out with historians, and HD clips of the documentary series “Paris, the great saga”.

Immersive experience

“This is the first time we have a digital model of Paris, and this is a big advantage over what we’d had in the past,” says Mehdi Tayoubi, VP of design and experimental strategy at Dassault Systèmes. “It can be adapted as archaeologists make new discoveries. It’s a kind of living world; we’re going to add other monuments, make other representations.”
Users can take guided tours from the Paris 3D web browser or on the corresponding iPad app.
The experience was revealed earlier this month in Paris as part of a giant virtual reality show, featuring nine screens with different clips of the city during various periods with 15,000 Parisians attending the launch.
“We demonstrated that virtual reality is a real tool for research, education and cultural exploration for the general public,” Mehdi says.
Most of the documents used for Paris 3D were 2D drawings or black and white photographs, so the archaeologists had to fill in the blanks.
Before creating Paris 3D, which the Dassault team spent two years building, they had already created Giza 3D , released in May 2012 that explored and allowed the virtual exploration of the Giza Plateau in Egypt.
“The Paris 3D project is logical continuation of the Giza 3D project,” Mehdi says. “It was a great opportunity for us as a French company to collaborate, lead a scientific project and see Paris in the past like never before.”
Mehdi says Dassault has now received requests from several cities to create virtual reality versions of their histories, to be used in documentary films, set up in museums and to add a new dimension to mobile apps.

Augmented reality book

In addition there is a 3D reality book, which presents the story of Paris for the first time in augmented reality.
Readers use their computer webcams in combination with some of the illustrations in the book and get a true in-depth look at Paris over the centuries, with 3D animation and augmented reality techniques the past literally comes to life.
 http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/10/2012/2000-years-of-history-paris-in-3d
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x0wte8OP5C4