The Center of Urban and Regional Planning for Postgraduate Studies at the University of Baghdad discussed a master’s thesis entitled (Utilizing Augmented Reality to Develop Tourism in Historic City Centers/Kirkuk Citadel) by student Sally Nizar Abdul Jabbar, and under the supervision of Professor Dr. Abdul Wahab Ahmed.
The research studied the problem of the lack of knowledge of modern technologies and their failure to be used in the tourism industry, especially in historical heritage areas. Despite the diversity of the cultural and urban heritage in the Kirkuk Citadel, which comes from different eras, it was not used towards tourism, achieving economic development, and increasing income in the city, which resulted in neglect of the citadel.
The research aimed to achieve spatial tourism development in Kirkuk Citadel using a new, contemporary method represented by the use of simulation systems (augmented reality). Therefore, the research was based on presenting the cognitive and applied concepts related to the subject of the research and building a theoretical framework to come up with indicators linking the studied research concepts and their application to the local study area represented by Kirkuk Citadel to promote its tourism situation.
The thesis recommended the importance of developing historical tourist sites and places and reviving them again, by adopting a modern technical method represented by augmented reality technology, and this indicates the validity of the hypothesis.
