IHCantabria promotes a technology to aid diving and digitization of underwater cultural heritage

Within the framework of the Complementary Plan of Marine Sciences – ThinkinAzul, the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of of the University of Cantabria (IHCantabria) has developed a Proof of Concept – PoC of a disruptive technology for the planning of diving and digital dissemination of submerged heritage. This application (App) is one of the six technological challenges of the technology transfer project Cantabria Smart Litoral (CSL), aimed at promoting sustainable blue tourism activities in the Bay of Santander.

Focused on recreational or scientific diving activities, the dive App will provide necessary information on meteocean variables, such as temperature, currents at different depths, peak period between waves, wind, etc. The App will provide forecasts of these variables several days in advance, allowing to plan and improve the quality and safety of dives. Initially, this information will be available for specific dive sites in the Bay of Santander, where IHCantabria has more information about these variables.

To improve the dive experience and its personalization, the App will allow the user to rate, on a scale, the experience of the activity performed. Through Artificial Intelligence-IA tools and according to the user’s preferences, the App will be able to offer suggestions of favorite areas and conditions for future dives. This collaborative function will allow the user to validate meteocean forecasts and, through the use of AI, improve the technical reliability of the App.

To highlight the attractiveness of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (PCS) of Cantabria, the App will offer digital images and reproductions to diving centers for their recreational dives. As a PoC for the digitalization and dissemination of the PCS, a 3D reproduction of an anchor submerged at a depth of 12 meters near the island of Mouro (Santander Bay) has been made. In the first dive, a team of divers from IHCantabria managed to locate the sunken anchor, make its archaeological description and observe its state of preservation. In a second one, the divers of IHCantabria, in collaboration with the photonic engineering group of the UC, managed to make the photogrammetry of the anchor and a video with its 3D reproduction.

In order to know the users’ assessment, interviews have been conducted and questionnaires have been sent to dive centers, professional and recreational divers in Cantabria. Their answers have validated the design and usefulness of the App to plan their dives in areas with SAC or high biodiversity. 93% of them responded that they have suspended dives due to weather problems. Currently, most divers resort to less accurate data platforms.

For this technological challenge of culture and sustainable blue tourism, we have also collaborated with technicians from the General Directorate of Culture and Historical Heritage; with the director of the Cantabrian Maritime Museum and with the underwater archaeologist Germán Zubeldía, researcher in the project to study the Almiranta wreck, a Spanish galleon that sank in the Bay of Santoña in 1639. In addition, the diving school MouroSub was subcontracted for the boat and skipper rental service.

In the words of Francisco Royano, director of technology transfer at IHCantabria, “The digitalization of PCS, and its link with technological solutions oriented to recreational and professional diving is an area of great potential within sustainable blue tourism. We have a lot of transferable knowledge, doctoral theses and open lines of collaboration with other centers such as the University of Cadiz and the CEIMAR Foundation. We have also awakened the interest of the Santander City Council to promote this blue tourism activity in the Bay of Santander.

The Cantabria Smart Litoral project

Cantabria Smart Litoral(CSL) is a project within the framework of the Complementary Plan for R+D+i in Marine Sciences(ThinkinAzul), with funding from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and the Government of Cantabria.

For this technological challenge of culture and sustainable blue tourism, IHCantabria divers have collaborated with the photonic engineering group of the University of Cantabria.