What challenge or opportunity did your project address, and what were the main activities, methods, or outcomes achieved so far?
The cultural heritage and archaeological community creates exceptional 3D reconstructions of historic places. Yet a critical gap remains: these reconstructions are often not easily accessible for the general public. If they are, it is often temporarily, as part of an exhibition or installation. Otherwise, they remain in academic databases, institutional archives, or only accessible through specialist tools that require technical knowledge to access.
TimeLens addresses this distribution and accessibility challenge. We provide a platform that makes heritage reconstructions intuitive and immediately engaging for everyday users. Our app links each reconstruction directly to the real-world location, so people standing at a heritage site can instantly see what stood there centuries ago. No specialist knowledge required. No technical friction.
Our app is fully live and ready to host an unlimited number of locations, with additional functionalities in development. At the same time we are working on our own reconstructions (Athens), have already integrated a reconstruction of a partner (New Amsterdam, created by the New Amsterdam History Center), and we are discussing further partnerships with other organisations.
What key insights, lessons learned, or innovations emerged from your work that could be valuable for others working in the field of cultural heritage and 3D technologies?
1. Distribution is the missing link
Many heritage organisations excel at creating detailed, accurate reconstructions but struggle to make them accessible to general audiences. The technical and curatorial work is often done; what’s missing is an intuitive platform that connects this great work to people.
2. Location linking creates discovery
Reconstructions are most powerful when experienced at the actual heritage site. By anchoring each experience to GPS location, we transform reconstructions from abstract visualisations into lived moments. A visitor standing at ancient ruins can instantly see what stood there 2,000 years ago.
3. The platform matters more than individual projects
A single reconstruction is great, but one platform that hosts many different reconstructions across geographies, time periods, and heritage types becomes a resource that serves educators, researchers, tourists, and cultural institutions alike. That is why we are happy to host reconstructions made by others in our app.
How could your project’s results, expertise, tools, datasets, or approaches contribute to and benefit the broader Time Machine Organisation network, including potential opportunities for collaboration or reuse by other members?
We invite every TMO member organisation and project that has created 3D reconstructions to reach out and discuss bringing them into the TimeLens app. Whether your reconstructions are archaeological sites, architectural heritage, cultural landmarks, or local history projects, we can help you deliver them to users in an intuitive, accessible way.
This collaboration requires no changes to your reconstruction process or ownership. You retain full credit and ownership of your reconstructions. We take care of the app maintenance and related work. Together we can bring reconstructions to more people.
Personal statement
When we started TimeLens, we were focused on a specific problem: how to bring historic places to life in a way that feels immediate and genuine. It is amazing to see through the Time Machine Organisation that we’re not alone in this work. There are brilliant archaeologists, architects, historians, and technologists working to make the past visible again.
We firmly believe that this work is stronger when we work together. We came to TimeLens with a particular approach to immersive reconstruction, but the real breakthrough value lies in TimeLens as a platform that serves the whole community. Whether someone has spent years crafting a detailed archaeological model or a community group has documented a forgotten local landmark, they deserve an audience. That’s what we believe TimeLens can offer: as a bridge between the creators and the people who want to experience their work.
We’re excited to be part of a community that shares our conviction that heritage matters, that technology should make access easier rather than more complicated, and that the best outcomes happen when people working in the same space actually know each other.