# Augmented Reality in Heritage Apps:Current Trends in Europe
## 2 Heritage Education, APPs and Augmented Reality  
The spread of mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, and improvements to access to the Internet have prompted changes in not only how we research and conserve heritage but also how we share and teach it [8]. Indeed, museums have led the way in experimenting with ways that these new technologies can be used as educational tools, while also touting these innovations as part of their strategy to the democratize culture [10; 11]. Accordingly, we can see the shift from the use of the traditional audio guides to PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant) [12], and then finally to apps that are developed for mobile devices. The fruitfulness of all these devices for education has been widely documented over recent decades [13; 14], and so has their unsurpassed usefulness in heritage teaching-learning processes. The growing use of mobile devices for all sorts of tasks has led to a boom in the app-development industry. This type of software allows people to not only access important information but also to communicate in new ways with other social agents [15]. However, the dearth of research and critical evaluation on the use of heritage-related apps in education--including important questions like whether or not they incorporate any kind of virtuality--must be stressed [8; 16]. Moreover, the studies that have been conducted tend to focus excessively on technical aspects [12] or are aimed at tourism [9; 17]. There are few proposals for the integration of these heritage resources into the sphere of formal educational apart from some trials [18]. This strongly contrasts with what has occurred in other types of technology, which have been applied in school contexts [19; 20], both at basic educational levels and in the training of future teachers [21; 22]. There are, however, some hotbeds of activity in Spain [8; 15; 18; 23] and the United Kingdom [11; 24; 25], where interesting in-depth studies have been conducted on the evaluation of heritage apps. These show that for the main part, apps are developed by organizations such as museums and archeological sites, where the advantages that mobile devices offer visitors can easily be exploited [25; 26]. In the case of Spain, the government has been the main driver in this type of app development, followed by public museums and then foundations and associations [8]. A growing number of educational partnerships have flourished between private companies, public administrations, and formal educational establishments, among others [27]. These applications vary considerably: some offer a route to follow in a museum or heritage space, outdoor routes, quizzes, and even more complex gamification approaches, whereas others simply provide information about heritage assets, whether in the form of texts, videos or other resources [15]. Data collected in Spain show the prominence of apps that suggest a planned visit, while those that give information about specific heritage features come in at a distant second place [8]. Another study of museum apps from around the globe shows that they are mainly used to provide guided tours for exhibitions and furnish practical information about visits [11]. Of all the uses and tools that apps offer, various types of virtualization have had the greatest impact, and of those, AR stands out most of all. Devices' greatly enhanced abilities, 3D sensor equipment, and graphics technologies enable AR to be used easily and comfortably, thereby facilitating them to reach a wider market [28]. If we turn to the use of this tool in educational contexts, previous studies have demonstrated how AR has enabled students to better understand reality, observe elements from a variety of points of view, and create scenarios that facilitate simulation or the contextualization of information, to name just a few benefits [6; 27]; however, it is also true that the most recent studies often find notable contradictions in the advantages that AR has to offer education [5].