Improving Visitor Experience in Smart Museums

To preserve cultural heritage, museums play a key role. In particular, empowered with the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technology to become truly Smart Environments, they allow the automation of several management activities for the benefit of both curators and visitors. This paper introduces a Smart Museum prototype that uses IoT technologies for two primary objectives: i) indoor environmental monitoring to ensure optimal comfort for visitors, such as maintaining appropriate temperature, humidity, and lighting conditions (these factors can also contribute to the preservation of delicate artifacts); ii) visitor occupancy control in specific areas to estimate the attractiveness of individual artifacts or exhibits, thus enabling data-driven decisions to optimize exhibit layouts, signage, and interactive features. This dual approach paves the way towards a comprehensive management of Smart Museum, enabling more dynamic and enjoyable visitors’ experience.