# Augmented Reality in Cultural Heritage: An Overview of the Last Decade of Applications
###### Abstract
In [13], important aspects related to VR/AR/MR technology and relevant technical requirements needed to develop CH applications are listed. The tracking, display, and interface aspects of AR applications are outlined. In [14], how AR is used in the field of history education and which AR applications might be acceptable for this field are examined. The content analysis method was used to analyze mobile AR applications in the field of CH [15]. Recently, [11] presented a survey of current ontologies and data models for AR urban environment applications in the CH field. These reviews are mainly focused on technologies and methods. Bibliometric analyses have often been used lately to guide the future direction of research in various fields [16; 17; 18]. An important goal of bibliometric analysis is to generate a comprehensive overview of trends within a research domain and to examine the performance of countries, institutions, and researchers in terms of dissemination and publication. In [19], a bibliometric analysis carried out in 2016 and 2017 in the field of digital heritage is presented. The study identified that, most often, keywords are related to the technology used to develop digital heritage applications. Recently, a bibliometric analysis that outlines the use of AR for the dissemination of architectural heritage was presented in [7]. In [20], the current issues related to digital museum are overviewed using bibliometric analysis, and the relevant fields of research identified are digital humanities and VR and AR technologies. The publication trends between 2016 and 2021 in using digitization technology for CH applications are presented in [7]. This bibliometric analysis outlined that CH is increasingly adopting digitization. AR is a dynamic research field, and it is necessary to underline the state of the research and to provide the latest trends which will allow the development of future studies. The AR tools facilitate access to cultural heritage in an interactive and engaging way [21]. The present paper aims to carry out a conclusive study on the efforts made in the last ten years for the development of AR applications used for the preservation and promotion of CH. We analyze how AR is involved in cultural heritage applications by conducting bibliometric research regarding the documents published on AR applications in CH in the last ten years. We review the relevant literature in order to investigate the following research questions:  
Q1. What are the trends in using AR for cultural heritage applications? Q2. What is the structure of the last decade of literature? Q3. What are the main research results? Our review is structured as follows: First, we provide insight into the research methodology we adopted in our endeavor, pointing out the document search and selection criteria, software and data extraction process, and the analysis of the results and trends. Section 3 is the core of our review, focusing on the top trending applications of AR in cultural heritage. The section uses eight of the most used keywords/research topics identified in the scientific production of the field as heading pillars, namely 3D reconstruction, digital heritage, virtual museum, user experience, education, tourism, gamification, and intangible cultural heritage. The paper ends with our detailed conclusions where we share with the reader our opinion with respect to what the future of cultural heritage dissemination technology looks like.