The Municipality of San Miguel, through its Innovation sub-department, worked with the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and its LabXR to present Huantinamarca XR, an extended reality experience built around Huaca Huantinamarca in San Miguel, Lima. It combines archaeological reconstruction, 3D digitisation and a geolocated augmented reality app to spread knowledge of the site's heritage, particularly among local children and young people.
The project was designed and built as a proof of concept in the second half of 2025. LabXR developed it with collaborating specialists, commissioned by CIDE PUCP and SI San Miguel, with municipal support. It is described as a first step in a wider strategy to put the site's heritage to public use.
How it works
Drone and ground capture produced a 3D model of the huaca as it stands today, and four pottery vessels (huacos) were digitised from photographs. The team also investigated volumetric techniques such as NeRF-style capture and Gaussian splatting.
The experience can be explored in several ways:
- VR headset visualisation, for headsets such as the Quest 3, where users can view and manipulate the scanned huaca, the reconstructed huaca and the digitised vessels.
- Browser-based AR app, built with 8th Wall and at alpha stage. It runs in the browser, shows an interactive 3D map that follows the user's GPS position, places the reconstructed huaca over the present-day site, and sends visitors in search of the vessels around the huaca, game-style.
- WebXR page, which lets people view the huaca and information about it in augmented reality on their own phone or tablet in a browser, at home or at school.
The reconstruction shows how the adobe platform complex may have looked around 1450-1470 AD.
Municipal aims
The municipality presents the project as part of its Innovation District effort, in which technology is meant to create value for residents and help pass local history on to younger generations.
