A semantic web approach for built heritage representation

In a built heritage process, meant as a structured system of activities aimed at the investigation, preservation, and management of architectural heritage, any task accomplished by the several actors involved in it is deeply influenced by the way the knowledge is represented and shared. In the current heritage practice, knowledge representation and management have shown several limitations due to the difficulty of dealing with large amount of extremely heterogeneous data. On this basis, this research aims at extending semantic web approaches and technologies to architectural heritage knowledge management in order to provide an integrated and multidisciplinary representation of the artifact and of the knowledge necessary to support any decision or any intervention and management activity. To this purpose, an ontology-based system, representing the knowledge related to the artifact and its contexts, has been developed through the formalization of domain-specific entities and relationships between them

A semantic-based platform for the digital analysis of architectural heritage

This essay focuses on the fields of architectural documentation and digital representation. We present a research paper concerning the development of an information system at the scale of architecture, taking into account the relationships that can be established between the representation of buildings (shape, dimension, state of conservation, hypothetical restitution) and heterogeneous information about various fields (such as the technical, the documentary or still the historical one). The proposed approach aims to organize multiple representations (and associated information) around a semantic description model with the goal of defining a system for the multi-field analysis of buildings

Visualisation of semantic architectural information within a game engine environment

Because of the importance of graphics and information within the domain of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), an appropriate combination of visualisation technology and information management technology is of utter importance in the development of appropriately supporting design and construction applications. We therefore started an investigation of two of the newest developments in these domains, namely game engine technology and semantic web technology. This paper documents part of this research, containing a review and comparison of the most prominent game engines and documenting our architectural semantic web. A short test-case illustrates how both can be combined to enhance information visualisation for architectural design and construction

Conservation process model (cpm). A twofold scientific research scope in the information modelling for cultural heritage

The aim of the present research is to develop an instrument able to adequately support the conservation process by means of a twofold approach, based on both BIM environment and ontology formalisation. Although BIM has been successfully experimented within AEC (Architecture Engineering Construction) field, it has showed many drawbacks for architectural heritage. To cope with unicity and more generally complexity of ancient buildings, applications so far developed have shown to poorly adapt BIM to conservation design with unsatisfactory results (Dore, Murphy 2013; Carrara 2014). In order to combine achievements reached within AEC through BIM environment (design control and management) with an appropriate, semantically enriched and flexible The presented model has at its core a knowledge base developed through information ontologies and oriented around the formalization and computability of all the knowledge necessary for the full comprehension of the object of architectural heritage an its conservation. Such a knowledge representation is worked out upon conceptual categories defined above all within architectural criticism and conservation scope. The present paper aims at further extending the scope of conceptual modelling within cultural heritage conservation already formalized by the model. A special focus is directed on decay analysis and surfaces conservation project

Towards building information modelling for existing structures

The transformation of cities from the industrial age (unsustainable) to the knowledge age (sustainable) is essentially a ‘whole life cycle’ process consisting of; planning, development, operation, reuse and renewal. During this transformation, a multi-disciplinary knowledge base, created from studies and research about the built environment aspects is fundamental: historical, architectural, archeologically, environmental, social, economic, etc is critical. Although there are a growing number of applications of 3D VR modelling applications, some built environment applications such as disaster management, environmental simulations, computer aided architectural design and planning require more sophisticated models beyond 3D graphical visualization such as multifunctional, interoperable, intelligent, and multi-representational. Advanced digital mapping technologies such as 3D laser scanner technologies can be are enablers for effective e-planning, consultation and communication of users’ views during the planning, design, construction and lifecycle process of the built environment. For example, the 3D laser scanner enables digital documentation of buildings, sites and physical objects for reconstruction and restoration. It also facilitates the creation of educational resources within the built environment, as well as the reconstruction of the built environment. These technologies can be used to drive the productivity gains by promoting a free-flow of information between departments, divisions, offices, and sites; and between themselves, their contractors and partners when the data captured via those technologies are processed and modelled into BIM (Building Information Modelling). The use of these technologies is key enablers to the creation of new approaches to the ‘Whole Life Cycle’ process within the built and human environment for the 21st century. The paper describes the research towards Building Information Modelling for existing structures via the point cloud data captured by the 3D laser scanner technology. A case study building is elaborated to demonstrate how to produce 3D CAD models and BIM models of existing structures based on designated technique

Semantic Technologies for Manuscript Descriptions — Concepts and Visions

The contribution at hand relates recent developments in the area of the World Wide Web to codicological research. In the last number of years, an informational extension of the internet has been discussed and extensively researched: the Semantic Web. It has already been applied in many areas, including digital information processing of cultural heritage data. The Semantic Web facilitates the organisation and linking of data across websites, according to a given semantic structure. Software can then process this structural and semantic information to extract further knowledge. In the area of codicological research, many institutions are making efforts to improve the online availability of handwritten codices. If these resources could also employ Semantic Web techniques, considerable research potential could be unleashed. However, data acquisition from less structured data sources will be problematic. In particular, data stemming from unstructured sources needs to be made accessible to SemanticWeb tools through information extraction techniques. In the area of museum research, the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) has been widely examined and is being adopted successfully. The CRM translates well to Semantic Web research, and its concentration on contextualization of objects could support approaches in codicological research. Further concepts for the creation and management of bibliographic coherences and structured vocabularies related to the CRM will be considered in this chapter. Finally, a user scenario showing all processing steps in their context will be elaborated on

Report of the Stanford Linked Data Workshop

The Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) with the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) conducted at week-long workshop on the prospects for a large scale, multi-national, multi-institutional prototype of a Linked Data environment for discovery of and navigation among the rapidly, chaotically expanding array of academic information resources. As preparation for the workshop, CLIR sponsored a survey by Jerry Persons, Chief Information Architect emeritus of SULAIR that was published originally for workshop participants as background to the workshop and is now publicly available. The original intention of the workshop was to devise a plan for such a prototype. However, such was the diversity of knowledge, experience, and views of the potential of Linked Data approaches that the workshop participants turned to two more fundamental goals: building common understanding and enthusiasm on the one hand and identifying opportunities and challenges to be confronted in the preparation of the intended prototype and its operation on the other. In pursuit of those objectives, the workshop participants produced:1. a value statement addressing the question of why a Linked Data approach is worth prototyping;2. a manifesto for Linked Libraries (and Museums and Archives and …);3. an outline of the phases in a life cycle of Linked Data approaches;4. a prioritized list of known issues in generating, harvesting & using Linked Data;5. a workflow with notes for converting library bibliographic records and other academic metadata to URIs;6. examples of potential “killer apps” using Linked Data: and7. a list of next steps and potential projects.This report includes a summary of the workshop agenda, a chart showing the use of Linked Data in cultural heritage venues, and short biographies and statements from each of the participants

Chapter H-BIM semantico come strumento di documentazione inclusiva e accesso al Nuovo Catalogo Digitale dei Beni Culturali: il caso studio di Santa Maria delle Vergini a Macerata

The 43rd UID conference, held in Genova, takes up the theme of ‘Dialogues’ as practice and debate on many fundamental topics in our social life, especially in these complex and not yet resolved times. The city of Genova offers the opportunity to ponder on the value of comparison and on the possibilities for the community, naturally focused on the aspects that concern us, as professors, researchers, disseminators of knowledge, or on all the possibile meanings of the discipline of representation and its dialogue with ‘others’, which we have broadly catalogued in three macro areas: History, Semiotics, Science / Technology. Therefore, “dialogue” as a profitable exchange based on a common language, without which it is impossible to comprehend and understand one another; and the graphic sign that connotes the conference is the precise transcription of this concept: the title ‘translated’ into signs, derived from the visual alphabet designed for the visual identity of the UID since 2017. There are many topics which refer to three macro sessions: - Witnessing (signs and history) - Communicating (signs and semiotics) - Experimenting (signs and sciences) Thanks to the different points of view, an exceptional resource of our disciplinary area, we want to try to outline the prevailing theoretical-operational synergies, the collaborative lines of an instrumental nature, the recent updates of the repertoires of images that attest and nourish the relations among representation, history, semiotics, sciences

From survey to semantic representation for Cultural Heritage: the 3D modeling of recurring architectural elements

The digitization of Cultural Heritage paves the way for new approaches to surveying and restitution of historical sites. With a view to the management of integrated programs of documentation and conservation, the research is now focusing on the creation of information systems where to link the digital representation of a building to semantic knowledge. With reference to the emblematic case study of the Calci Charterhouse, also known as Pisa Charterhouse, this contribution illustrates an approach to be followed in the transition from 3D survey information, derived from laser scanner and photogrammetric techniques, to the creation of semantically enriched 3D models. The proposed approach is based on the recognition -segmentation and classification- of elements on the original raw point cloud, and on the manual mapping of NURBS elements on it. For this shape recognition process, reference to architectural treatises and vocabularies of classical architecture is a key step. The created building components are finally imported in a H-BIM environment, where they are enriched with semantic information related to historical knowledge, documentary sources and restoration activities