Digital representation of historical globes : methods to make 3D and pseudo-3D models of sixteenth century Mercator globes

In this paper, the construction of digital representations of a terrestrial and celestial globe will be discussed. Virtual digital (3D) models play an important role in recent research and publications on cultural heritage. The globes discussed in this paper were made by Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) in 1541 and 1551. Four techniques for the digital representation are discussed and analysed, all using high-resolution photographs of the globes. These photographs were taken under studio conditions in order to get equal lighting and to avoid unwanted light spots. These lighting conditions are important, since the globes have a highly reflective varnish covering. Processing these images using structure from motion, georeferencing of separate scenes and the combination of the photographs with terrestrial laser scanning data results in true 3D representations of the globes. Besides, pseudo-3D models of these globes were generated using dynamic imaging, which is an extensively used technique for visualisations over the Internet. The four techniques and the consequent results are compared on geometric and radiometric quality, with a special focus on their usefulness for distribution and visualisation during an exhibition in honour of the five hundredth birthday of Gerardus Mercator

Methodology for the metric restoration of the historical cartography applied to Francisco Coello's cartografic series of the Royal Site of Aranjuez

Hojas Kilométricas (Kilometric Sheets). Specifically, the study focuses on those sheets referring to the city centre and surrounding area of the Royal Site of Aranjuez, a town in the south of the Province of Madrid. The aim of this study is to restore the actual size and measurements of scanned images of the Hojas Kilométricas. This would allow us, among other things, to reestablish both the format and scale of the original plans. To achieve this goal it is necessary to rectify and then georeference these images, i.e. assign them a geographic reference system. This procedure is essential in the overlaying and comparison of the Hojas Kilométricas of the Royal Site with other historical cartography as well as other sources related to the same area from different time periods. Subsequent research would allow us, for example, to reconstruct the time-evolution of the urban area, to spot new construction and to pinpoint the locations of any altered or missing buildings or architectural features. In addition, this would allow us to develop and integrate databases for GIS models applicable to the management of our cultural heritage

Trends and concerns in digital cartography

CISRG discussion paper ;

Introduction: Creating new worlds out of old texts

Despite initial expectations that globalization would eradicate the need for geographical space and distance, "maps matter" today in ways that were unimaginable a mere two decades ago. Technological advances have brought to the fore an entirely new set of methods for representing and interacting with spatial formations, while the ever-increasing mobility of ideas, capital, and people has created a world in which urban and regional inequalities are being heightened at an accelerating pace. As a result, the ability of any given place to reap the benefits of global socio-technical flows mainly hinges on the forging of connections that can transcend the limits of its material location. In contrast to the traditional "topographic" perspective, the territorial extent of economic and political realms is being increasingly conceived through a "topological" lens: as a set of overlapping reticulations in which the nature and frequency of links among different sites matter more than the physical distances between them. At the same time, a parallel stream of innovation has revolutionized the understanding of space in disciplines such as history, archaeology, classics, and linguistics. Much of this work has been concentrated in the burgeoning field of the "digital humanities", which has been persistently breaking new ground in the conceptualization of past and present places. When seen in the context of globalization-induced dynamics, such developments emphasize the need for developing cartographic approaches that can bring out the inherently networked structure of social space via a lens that is both theoretically integrative and heuristically sharp. We have decided to respond to these analytical and methodological challenges by focusing on ancient Greek literature: a corpus of work that has often been characterized as being free of the constraints imposed by post-Enlightenment cartography, despite setting the foundations of many contemporary map-making methods. In the 12 chapters that follow, we highlight the rich array of representational devices employed by authors from this era, whose narrative depictions of spatial relations defy the logic of images and surfaces that dominates contemporary cartographic thought. There is a particular focus on Herodotus' Histories - a text that is increasingly taken up by classicists as the example of how ancient perceptions of space may have been rather different to the cartographic view that we tend to assume. But this volume also considers the spatial imaginary through the lens of other authors (e.g. Aristotle), genres (e.g. hymns), cultural contexts (e.g. Babylon), and disciplines (e.g. archaeology), with a view to stimulating a broad-based discussion among readers and critics of Herodotus and ancient Greek literature and culture more generally. In fact, many of the disciplinary and conceptual perspectives explored here are at their inception, and have a more general relevance for the wider community of humanities and social science researchers interested in novel mapping techniques. The resulting juxtaposition of more "traditional", philological discussions of space with chapters dedicated to the exploration of new technologies may jar or appear uneven, especially since we have not set out to privilege one method over another. But it is through viewing these different approaches in the round and reading them alongside each other that, we maintain, we can best disrupt customary ways of thinking (and writing) about space and catch a glimpse of new possibilities

3D Digitization and Web Publishing of an ISMAR Cartographic Heritage: Historical Maps of Venice Lagoon

Recently a collection of ancient maps was found in the Institute of Marine Sciences of CNR in Venice. The collection includes maps, perspective views, pilot books and ancient manuscripts: this work took into account a selection of maps and documents representing the Venice Lagoon and the Adriatic coast. The first part of this research focused on the application of a scientific method for digital acquisition of historical cartography; thanks to the Geomatic tools and especially to digital photogrammetry it is possible to acquire metric, semantic and symbolic information and also the three-dimensional shape of the geometrical support to correct the deformations occurred over time. In order to allow historical and morphological analysis of the Venice Lagoon, one of the main goals of this research will be the creation of a digital catalogue on a web-gis platform with all the ancient maps acquired. In this way it will be possible to query and to overlap the maps in an interactive way, allowing studies and comparisons with the more recent cartography. The applied procedure of recovery and valorization of historical cartography is divided into three different phases: acquisition, georeferencing and data elaboration of maps in a digital environment. This research underlines the application of a scientific procedure for the conservation and valorization of the historical Cartographic Heritage

GIS analysis of the accuracy of Tomas Lopez's historical cartography in the Canary Islands (1742 - 1746)

The accuracy of Tomás López´s historical cartography of the Canary Islands included in the “Atlas Particular” of the Kingdoms of Spain, Portugal and Adjacent Islands” is analyzed. For this purpose, we propose a methodology based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a comparison of digitized historical cartography population centres with current ones. This study shows that the lineal error value is small for the smaller islands: Lanzarote, El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera. In the large islands of Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, the error is smaller in central zones but increases towards the coast. This indicates that Tomás López began his cartography starting from central island zones, accumulating errors due to lack of geodetic references as he moved toward the coast

Historical collaborative geocoding

The latest developments in digital have provided large data sets that can increasingly easily be accessed and used. These data sets often contain indirect localisation information, such as historical addresses. Historical geocoding is the process of transforming the indirect localisation information to direct localisation that can be placed on a map, which enables spatial analysis and cross-referencing. Many efficient geocoders exist for current addresses, but they do not deal with the temporal aspect and are based on a strict hierarchy (..., city, street, house number) that is hard or impossible to use with historical data. Indeed historical data are full of uncertainties (temporal aspect, semantic aspect, spatial precision, confidence in historical source, ...) that can not be resolved, as there is no way to go back in time to check. We propose an open source, open data, extensible solution for geocoding that is based on the building of gazetteers composed of geohistorical objects extracted from historical topographical maps. Once the gazetteers are available, geocoding an historical address is a matter of finding the geohistorical object in the gazetteers that is the best match to the historical address. The matching criteriae are customisable and include several dimensions (fuzzy semantic, fuzzy temporal, scale, spatial precision ...). As the goal is to facilitate historical work, we also propose web-based user interfaces that help geocode (one address or batch mode) and display over current or historical topographical maps, so that they can be checked and collaboratively edited. The system is tested on Paris city for the 19-20th centuries, shows high returns rate and is fast enough to be used interactively.Comment: WORKING PAPE

Digitalization and Spatial Documentation of Post-Earthquake Temporary Housing in Central Italy: An Integrated Geomatic Approach Involving UAV and a GIS-Based System

Geoinformation and aerial data collection are essential during post-earthquake emergency response. This research focuses on the long-lasting spatial impacts of temporary solutions, which have persisted in regions of Central Italy affected by catastrophic seismic events over the past 25 years, significantly and permanently altering their landscapes. The paper analyses the role of geomatic and photogrammetric tools in documenting the emergency process and projects in post-disaster phases. An Atlas of Temporary Architectures is proposed, which defines a common semantic and geometric codification for mapping temporary housing from territorial to urban and building scales. The paper presents an implementation of attribute specification in existing official cartographic data, including geometric entities in a 3D GIS data model platform for documenting and digitalising these provisional contexts. To achieve this platform, UAV point clouds are integrated with non-metric data to ensure a complete description in a multiscalar approach. Accurate topographic modifications can be captured by extracting very high-resolution orthophotos and elevation models (DSM and DTM). The results have been validated in Visso (Macerata), a small historical mountain village in Central Italy which was heavily damaged by the seismic events of 2016/2017. The integrated approach overcomes the existing gaps and emphasizes the importance of managing heterogeneous geospatial emergency data for classification purposes. It also highlights the need to enhance an interoperable knowledge base method for post-disaster temporary responses. By combining geomatic tools with architectural studies, these visualization techniques can support national and local organizations responsible for post-earthquake management through a 3D modelling method to aid future transformations or interventions following other natural disasters