Vlahakis, V.Demiris, A.Bounos, E.Ioannidis, N.Y. Chrysanthou and K. Cain and N. Silberman and F. Niccolucci2014-01-312014-01-3120043-905673-18-51811-864Xhttps://doi.org/10.2312/VAST/VAST04/057-066This paper focuses on the design parameters of mobile electronic guides for cultural sites and museums. We treat issues like user interaction and portability and present practical solutions for their installation and operation in uncontrolled indoor and outdoor environments. Initial experiences from the archaeological site of Pompeii, Italy, are reported. The major contribution of the paper is the proposal of a new concept, that of light Augmented Reality for portable guides which we believe will dominate the field of cultural guiding in the near future. Our implementation aims at setting the standards for such applications and initial qualitative results are presented from its test use.Categories and Subject Descriptors: H.5.1 [Multimedia Information Systems]: Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities