Heritage metaverse for culture, heritage and government
A heritage metaverse is not a 3D model of a ruin. It is a programme: which stories to tell, which sites to recreate, who guides the visitor, and how the client's own team runs it afterwards. This is Nplay's methodology for a phased heritage metaverse programme — plus the museum holograms we have already delivered in Jordan.
Heritage deserves more than a demo
Most heritage metaverse projects start with a beautiful 3D scan and end when the launch budget runs out. Nobody defined who would add the next site, how a school group books a tour, or how the content is kept accurate. The result is a showcase, not a service.
Our approach treats a heritage metaverse as a government programme with requirements, process maps and a handover — the same discipline we use for digital twins and metaverse platforms. The storytelling, gamification and hologram craft come from our studio; the structure comes from a phased plan that a heritage authority or commission can audit.
A heritage metaverse Jordan institutions build for their own sites and a heritage metaverse Saudi Arabia programme share one principle: start with the story and the place, then decide how visitors enter it, on a screen, in a headset or on site.
Twelve months, three phases
Phase 1 — Discovery and design
Use-case discovery across departments until the full set of use cases is documented and prioritised, then benchmarking against international heritage and virtual museum platforms. Outputs: prioritised use-case catalogue, BPMN process maps of the visitor and operator journeys, and a business requirements document (BRD).
Phase 2 — Build
3D reconstruction of the selected heritage sites, an immersive tour space with projection and holograms, and bilingual Arabic/English guide content with storytelling arcs and gamified progression for younger visitors.
Phase 3 — Launch and knowledge transfer
Pilot with staff and school groups, refine, open to the public. Training, operating manuals and content-management handover so the client's team publishes new sites and stories without us.
What the client receives
Use-case catalogue
At least 30 documented use cases — education, tourism, research, events, accessibility — each with owner, audience and success measure.
Benchmark report
How leading digital heritage initiatives are built and run, and which patterns fit the client's sites and mandate.
BPMN and BRD
Process maps for booking, guiding, content approval and maintenance, and a business requirements document the procurement team can hold us to.
Immersive tour space
A physical room where visitors walk through the recreated sites with projection, holograms and interactive touch — the on-site face of the heritage metaverse.
Bilingual guides
Arabic and English narrations, AI avatar guides and gamified quests, written with the client's historians and reviewed at storyboard stage.
Knowledge transfer
Training, documentation and a content pipeline so curators add the eighth site themselves.
Museum holograms we have already built
In May 2023 we delivered a multi-hall hologram and projection experience for a national military memorial museum in Jordan: a rear-projection hologram in the main hall telling the story of the country's historic rulers, hologram screens at the entrance and exhibition hall, a filmed virtual speaker on an acrylic silhouette, renewed dome projectors and a floor projection synchronised with ceremonies — all fed by Nplay Beam across 10 displays. The full account is in the case study.
That project is the on-site half of any heritage metaverse: the same 3D models that fill a virtual museum platform also drive the holograms in the physical tour space. For lit galleries and travelling exhibitions, the Nplay Halo Box shows artefacts and historical figures without a dark room.
One heritage metaverse, several kinds of site
| Site type | Visitor experience | Technology |
|---|---|---|
| Archaeological site | Walk the site as it stood, with a bilingual guide | 3D reconstruction, AI avatar guide, VR and web access |
| Museum hall | Artefacts explained by a historical figure | Halo Box or projection hologram, touch interaction |
| Memorial | Ceremony-synchronised light and story | Long-throw floor projection, hologram screens, Nplay Beam scheduling |
| Historic city or district | Quest-based exploration for schools | Gamified 3D world, multiplayer avatars |
| Archive or library | Manuscripts and maps in context | 3D viewer, interactive kiosks, on-demand narration |
| Travelling exhibition | The heritage metaverse on the road | Portable Halo Box units with cloud content |
Why heritage bodies are moving now
What a heritage metaverse is used for
- School programmes — gamified quests through recreated sites, in Arabic and English
- Virtual museum platform — the collection online, with a guide, for visitors who cannot travel
- Interactive museum design in Jordan and Saudi Arabia — holograms and projection in physical halls
- Research and conservation — accurate 3D records of sites and artefacts
- National events — ceremony-synchronised projection and hologram storytelling
- Tourism promotion — the same 3D sites used in destination programmes
Further reading: Khronos OpenXR standard (external source).
Frequently asked questions
Has Nplay delivered a full heritage metaverse yet?
We have delivered the physical half — a multi-hall hologram and projection experience for a national memorial museum in Jordan (2023) — and built digital-twin and metaverse environments including a university campus. The phased heritage programme described here is our proposed methodology for combining the two for a culture or heritage body.
Why start with use-case discovery instead of building?
Because the use cases decide the platform. A schools programme needs multiplayer and quests; a research archive needs measurement accuracy; a tourism board needs web access without headsets. Discovering and benchmarking first keeps the build honest and the BRD enforceable.
What are BPMN and BRD, and why does a museum need them?
BPMN is a standard notation for process maps; a BRD is a business requirements document. Together they define how visitors book, how curators approve content and how the platform is maintained — so the programme survives staff changes and procurement reviews.
Does a virtual museum platform need VR headsets?
No. We build for web browsers first so schools and international visitors can join, with VR as an option in the immersive tour space. Holograms in the physical halls need no glasses at all.
Can content stay accurate over time?
Yes. Knowledge transfer in Phase 3 hands the content pipeline to the client's curators, who add sites and correct narrations through the content management system rather than through a new contract.
Keep exploring
Guides and articles
Bring your first heritage sites to life
Share the list of sites and the departments involved. We will return a Phase-1 discovery plan and a sample bilingual storyline for one of them.