Pitt-Greensburg and Pitt University Libraries Develop Virtual Tours for West Overton Museums

Abstract

Pitt-Greensburg faculty and students have partnered with the Pitt University Libraries (ULS) and West Overton Village and Museums to build historic virtual tours with 3-D modeling, photogrammetry, and GIS of the Homestead and Museums.

Our goals are to meet ADA Compliance to serve disabled visitors and to create virtual interactive didactics to serve the educational missions of both institutions. West Overton consists of 19 buildings spread over 12 acres and is a stop on the American Whiskey Trail in Southwest PA. It is a significant site on the National Register of Historic Places yet lacks significant interpretive research of its history and artifacts or the means to make the information available to the public in a meaningful manner.

Pitt-Greensburg’s collaboration with West Overton will strengthen ties to historical sites in the region and will promote our commitment to serving the local communities while promoting diversity and inclusion. This project partners faculty, staff, and students across academic divisions, Pitt campuses, and regional historic sites and advances academic excellence especially by engaging students, faculty, and staff in a real-world project using cutting-edge digital studies technologies and research. We will engage in skills from a wide variety of areas within the university and beyond: historical and art historical analysis, issues of museum/historic site curation, heritage data visualization, 3-D modeling, photogrammetry, and GIS, that can then be used in similar partnerships with more historic sites, both locally and globally.

Project Lead

Amber McAlister
History of Arts and Architecture

Select Collaborators

Jessica Kadie-Barclay
West Overton Village and Museum

Joseph Bleehash
Director of Facilities & Security, Pitt-Greensburg

Elisa Beshero-Bondar
Center for the Digital Text, Data Analytics

Gregory Bondar
Anthropology

Timothy Deliyannides
Scholarly Communication and Publishing, Information Technology

Pilar Herr
History

Boris Michev
GIS, Urban Studies, Social Sciences & Maps, Liaison Librarian ULS

Goal Area