Researchers at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University are developing an immersive heritage application that will turn the Çanakkale Strait into a digital cultural heritage route using virtual and augmented reality. Led by Professor Erol Duran of the Tourism Faculty, the 'Çanakkale Strait Cultural Heritage Maritime Route Project' has received 2.4 million Turkish Liras in funding from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) under its 1001 Scientific and Technological Research Projects Support Program. The research team also includes Associate Professor Hasan Gül of the Ezine Food Specialization Organized Industrial Zone Vocational School and lecturer Bahattin Hamarat of the Tourism Faculty. The project's mobile application, called 'Dardanell-E,' is designed to be deployed on commercial tour boats running the strait. Visitors will use VR headsets — scaled to passenger capacity — to view three-dimensional simulations of historical events, including a recreation of the strait's geological formation 12,000 years ago and historical layers stretching from the Troas period through the Ottoman and Republican eras. At designated points along the route, AR overlays will project the past appearances of historical structures onto mobile device screens. The 50 historical and cultural elements covered include the Trojan War, the Gallipoli Campaign, the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and the pontoon bridge built by Persian King Xerxes I. Launch is planned for summer 2026.