I am very interested in a shared ontology for virtual heritage so 3D artefacts and buildings can be uploaded at realtime, reference books and papers and tool directories and other components, and these references can be dynamically updated. My understanding is that 3D assets in some virtual environments and game engines can be assembled at run-time. My problem is that I research and design virtual heritage models and the 2D papers, the digital tools and the models are all hermetically sealed, an update of one is not reflected in the other, models are not saved only exhibited, and the papers do not show how tools are used or which version of software was used, so papers with arguments cannot be easily found, experiments cannot be repeated, and models are showcased but not preserved in a standard or shareable format. Paradata is also not normally included.

Some people who may be doing related work:

• Pieter Pauwels, 2008. Architectural Information Modelling for virtual heritage application, VSMM2008. Slides at http://www.slideshare.net/pipauwel1/vsmm2008. Homepage: http://www.uva.nl/over-de-uva/organisatie/medewerkers/content/p/a/p.pauwels/p.pauwels.html
• Michael Ashley, CoDA, and Mukurtu Development Director: http://www.mukurtu.org/ “The free, mobile and open source platform built with indigenous communities to manage and share digital cultural heritage.”
• http://www.pasthorizons.com/worldprojects/
• The people at DiRT, and DHCommons
• EU infrastructures ARIADNE and 3D Icons
• Internet Archaeology journal with various formats saved in ADS data formats.
• Possibly ACM JOCCH journal but I did not find 3D format instructions.
• Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage journal
• Europeana