Yorescape to Be Adapted for Use in K-12 Education in Partnership with Proconsort
May 1, 2024
BLOOMINGTON, IN, MAY 1, 2024. Flyover Zone is a leading
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What Is FLYOVER ZONE?
Flyover Zone is an EdTech company with the mission of virtualizing and democratizing world heritage sites and monuments. Virtualization means 3D modeling of the current condition of the monument. It also means digital restoration of any damage that the monument may have suffered since it was first created. Democratization means two things: we use the Internet to stream the sites and monuments to our users. This makes it possible for those who for whatever reason (time or economic constraints, disability, etc.) cannot travel to the monuments to at least see and experience their digital twin. Moreover, the price of doing so is a tiny fraction of what an actual trip would cost. Democratization also means that your virtual guide is one of the world’s leading experts such as the director of an excavation or a research institute. This is not normally the kind of highly qualified specialist with whom you can take a tour in the real world.
We fulfill our mission through our two streaming services.
Our Virtual Museum has hundreds of 3D models of classical sculpture in museums and private collections. Each object in the museum is accompanied by metadata giving you information comparable to what you typically find on a museum label. We also include links to vetted scholarly information available elsewhere on the Internet.
Yorescape® is a word we coined based on “yore,” as in “days of yore,” and “-scape,” as in landscape. Yorescape is the name of our streaming platform for virtual tours taking you across space to see ruins in countries like Egypt, Greece, and Italy as well as back in time to see the ruins spring to life in computer reconstructions.
By offering you virtual travel through time as well as space, a Yorescape tour has features with which a real-world tour cannot compete.
Also unique to our platform is the fact that leading scholars work with our 3D modelers to ensure that the reconstructions of the monuments are scientifically valid. They also help our writers to craft the scripts that are recorded so that at each stop on a tour you can learn how the world’s experts explain what you are seeing.
Our two services are aimed at lovers of world heritage, whether they be students, teachers, or members of the general public.
Team Leaders
Bernard Frischer
Founder & CEO
Bernard Frischer is a pioneer in the field of Virtual Heritage. He received his B.A. in Classics from Wesleyan University (CT) and his Ph.D. in Classics from Heidelberg University. He studied Roman archaeology and topography for two years while a post-doctoral Prix de Rome fellow of the American Academy in Rome. He has been a professor at UCLA, the University of Virginia, and Indiana University. Through his virtual heritage labs, Frischer has overseen many 3D projects since the 1990s.
In 2016, Frischer founded Flyover Zone in order to bring virtual heritage to a larger international public.
Nathanael Tavares
Product Manager
Nathanael Tavares is a computer scientist who, as an undergraduate at Indiana University, worked in the Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology where he developed several virtual reality experiences. While still in college, he worked for three years in Intel’s TrueView division. He is currently pursuing an MBA at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He joined Flyover Zone in 2016 as a software developer and built our prototype/MVP which laid the groundwork for the development of Flyover Zone’s flagship product, Yorescape.
Mohamed Abdelaziz
Director of Historical Art
Mohamed Abdelaziz is an archaeologist and graphic artist. Born and educated in Alexandria, Egypt, he has a Master degree in Archaeology and is currently working on his dissertation for the Ph.D. He has been employed as an archaeologist and digital artist for the Ministry of Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities, the Centre d’études Alexandrines, Indiana University, and Harvard University. Since 2019 he has served as Director of HIstorical Art at Flyover Zone.
Davide Angheleddu
Director of Photogrammetry
Davide Angheleddu is a digital artist, designer, and expert on photogrammetry. He received his Masters degree in Architecture and his Ph.D. in Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano . After finishing his Architecture degree, he worked in an architecture studio specializing in interior design. There he developed the concept of digital representation not just as way to illustrate the final product but as a key tool in the production workflow itself. This idea has been the basis of his artistic production, including, notably, his sculpture inspired by the discovery of the Higgs Boson at CERN. His doctoral dissertation addressed the problem of maximizing visual information while minimizing file size.
Devin Good
Director of Technical Art
Devin Good is a 3D Artist and Unity Technical Artist. Devin has a degree in Game Design with a focus in 3D Art & Animation from Indiana University. He has worked on many virtual reality programs ranging from BIG10 University Sports Experiences, to Fortune 500 Soft Skills Trainings, to Indie Games. He joined Flyover Zone in 2021 and was appointed as Director of Technical Art in 2022.
Albert Prieto
Director of Content
Albert Prieto is a Rome-based ancient historian and archaeologist. He earned his AB in Classical Languages from Harvard University, an MLitt in Ancient History from the University of St. Andrews, and a PhD in Classical Archaeology from the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught courses on the archaeology, art, and history of Rome and the Mediterranean world, participated in field and research projects, produced educational media about Roman civilization, and given hundreds of tours and lectures to educational programs visiting Italy. He joined Flyover Zone in 2020 as a script writer.
Lothar Altringer
Director of virtual museum
Lothar Altringer was the director of a hotel for 10 years, then studied art history, philosophy and German literature at the University of Bonn. He worked as a writer and published, among other things, travel guides to Venice and Rome. Since 1993, he was project manager and exhibition curator for the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, organizing numerous international exhibition projects – with a particular focus on the aspect of education, incorporating innovative digital formats. From 2004 to 2022, Lothar Altringer was deputy director at the LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn, responsible, among other things, for numerous exhibitions and outreach programs.
Jeremiah Stevens
Lead Developer
Jeremiah Stevens is a Software Engineer & Technical Producer specializing in Unity Game Development. He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Indiana University. Since graduating, he has worked on many virtual reality programs ranging from BIG10 University Sports Experiences to Fortune 500 Soft Skills Trainings and Indie Games. Jeremiah joined Flyover Zone in 2020 and was appointed Lead Software Engineer in 2022.
Lasha Tskhondia
Director of 3D Modeling
Lasha Tskhondia is a professional sculptor and 3D modeler. Born and educated in Tbilisi, Georgia, he started his career as a sculptor of miniatures. He has long been fascinated by the history and architecture of ancient Rome. After making models of Roman buildings for ten years as a hobby, he joined the Flyover Zone team in 2016 and was recently named our Director of 3D Modeling.
Careers
We don’t have any openings at the moment, but feel free to reach out to us at contact@flyoverzone.com.
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