From the museum into the field and back – The digital link between museum objects and their origin

Museums act on the interface between public and science and hence are in the best position to communicate scientific topics. We implement this by using our objects as translators: with classic exhibitions as traditional way of museum education. Complementing such classic educational tools, digital offerings are of increasing importance and widely implemented in museums today. Such facilities (e. g. museum apps, virtual tours, multitouch screens or displays etc.) are very attractive for younger guests or technophile visitors in general and hence help to improve the image of the institution, to attract further visitors and to awake interest in geoscientific topics. Digital offerings may provide additional or newest information in an understandable and easily accessible way. Within the scope of a granted project, we develop a tailor-made museum app for the Mineralogical Museum at the University of Bonn. Conventional applications usually give additional information about objects, provide short movies, audio sequences, etc. We go beyond this and use the app to link exclusive objects with their place of origin, guiding our visitors digitally from the museum into the field. Our guests will get the opportunity to explore different exciting geological sites across the country and to get in touch with the wide variety of geoscientific topics. We achieve this by implementing photogrammetric and laser-scanned 3D models of outstanding locations. The project is a cooperation with the mobile database of OutcropWizard and the project 30 Geotope³ – Germanys most beautiful geosites in 3D, both developed at the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Bonn.