This course is designed to introduce new users to the 4D Browser - developed by the UrbanHistory4D project - an innovative tool that lets you explore historically reconstructed 3D cityscapes across time. By combining spatial and temporal data, the 4D Browser enables immersive virtual tours through the evolving urban landscapes of cities like Dresden, Jena, Budapest, and Amsterdam, using authentic historical photographs precisely placed within a digital 3D model.
Whether you're a history enthusiast, educator, researcher, urban planner, or simply curious about how cities transform, this course will help you harness the power of this unique browser to visualize and interpret the past.
The course was developed as part of the 3DBigDataSpace project, which aims to increase high-quality 3D content in the common European data space for cultural heritage and establish Europe-wide, stable, long-term storage solutions for 3D models.
No prior experience with 3D software is required. If you can use a web browser and a mouse, you’re ready to go.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
The 4D Browser is a prototype application and is not yet fully optimised for all browsers or interaction methods.
For the best learning experience, we recommend:
Except where otherwise noted, this training resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) by the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena and the Europeana Foundation. Content indicated as being under a different license or still under copyright is included with permission and is not covered by the CC BY 4.0 license.
Richard Joos is a research associate (Master of Arts). He studied Art History (Bachelor's & Master's) in Dresden. His research interests include digital art, internet and meme culture, virtual reality and 3D virtualization, gamification, and game studies.
Sander Münster is a professor of Digital Humanities at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. His research interests include 3D and 4D modelling and visualization of cultural heritage, information behaviour, digital heritage education, and communities.