ZoomAzores project: implementation of a WebGIS for Nature and Adventure Tourism.

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de InformaçãoNowadays, the Web offers new ways to make available information to users. This creates new ways and tools that can be used to make available tourist information and promotion of these destinations. The main objective this work is to develop a Web application for the ZoomAzores project. This web application uses dynamic maps and user-generated content features, which are focused on make available useful information for the tourist and the promotion of Nature and Adventure Tourism (NAT) in the archipelago of Azores. The solutions encountered were always determined by the technologies used and from the point of view of tourists visiting the Azores, which frequently doesn’t know about the Azores territory. The ZoomAzores Web application has Geographic Information System (GIS) visualization and navigation capabilities on the Internet, turning it into a WebGIS. It also encompasses the principles of Web 2.0 providing functionalities such as the generation of contents by users. The existing link between the use of dynamic maps and Web 2.0 in the tourism promotion and travel planning tasks seems to be a solid reality putting up new opportunities for the business in tourism.In this work, the development of the ZoomAzores WebGIS is based on the use of Open Standards (OS) and Free Open Source Software (FOSS). The use of OS is a key to the development of a WebGIS application able to interoperate with other systems and then use and consume Web Services (WS) that other systems can offer, concurrently enriching the data sources used. The FOSS technologies allow creates a more low cost solution without licensing cost software. This document exposes some design aspects in the system development and describes some functional and architectural features about the WebGIS ZoomAzores

The revitalization of Bucharest's center surrounding areas by reconverting the industrial heritage

This article discusses about the importance of the industrial revolution and the remains left behind from its beginnings, which reminds us of an extremely important period very different from our own. The architecture of the industrial sites from the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century shows us both a unique architectural style, created by the economic needs of that time, but also a way of life and socio-economic development for cities. To not lose important remains such as this, in this study, we proposed the transformation of the important industrial complexes and buildings in Bucharest decided by their history and former functions, adding innovative elements to grow their attractiveness. These buildings currently in a state of degradation, once transformed into different cultural attractions, will have the purpose of increasing the quality of the spaces around the city's center, will help with the gentrifying process of the city's abandoned zones, with growing the attractiveness and the revenues of the city and at the same time they will keep alive the history of the city through elements of identity which lead to its development

Open Works: Between the Programmed and the Free, Art in Italy 1962 to 1972

This dissertation historicizes and theorizes a group of Italian artists who were among the first to use computers and cybernetics to make artworks, developing the genre of Arte Programmata, or Programmed Art. It argues that the artists of Arte Programmata (Bruno Munari, Enzo Mari, and collectives Gruppo T and Gruppo N) turned to the generative, interactive, and probabilistic aspects of early computers not simply as new media for making art but as platforms for radically altering what it means to be a participant in an increasingly mediated and networked world. This is apparent in how each of their works deploys computers to restructure the relationship between subjects and their environment. In kinetic sculptures modeled on computer programs, the audience is invited to participate in the creation of the work; in immersive environments based on cybernetics and information theory, visitors are simultaneously activated, disoriented, and manipulated; and underlying designs for home goods is a concept of the world as an adaptable, interconnected system of subjects and space. Far from being antagonistic to liberty, Arte Programmata’s multi-faceted oeuvre demonstrates that technology supports individual’s capacity to act upon and affect their environment. Therefore I contend we should understand that programming, cybernetic systems, and even control are not categorically antithetical to individual freedom but comprise the conditions that allow for and encourage subjective agency. Bridging art history and media studies, this dissertation underscores how both art and technology are ways of visualizing and structuring social interaction, and it argues for a reassessment of the political, critical, and even visionary role of new media art like Arte Programmata

Analytical representation of architectural built heritage. A Sketch-to-Bim approach

HBIM methodology is increasingly used for the management of all aspects of architectural heritage, from survey and analysis to conservation, management and restoration issues. Application of HBIM are the so-called Scan-to-BIM processes in which the artifact is surveyed with digital techniques of laser scanning and photogrammetry. These techniques result in point clouds, the basis of the subsequent process of informative and geometric modelling of the artifact. The resulting "smart models" are composed of parametric objects rich in information that can be easily updated at any time. The proposed methodology aims at integrating a study of architectural orders, whose results become preparatory to the subsequent phases of survey and modeling, to the classic Scan-to-BIM workflows. In particular, in the modeling these results have allowed a more targeted choice of techniques used. The method has been applied to the atrium of the former Jesuit College of Santa Croce in Cagliari, which today hosts one of the seats of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Cagliari; in particular, the atrium of the east body of the former Jesuit College, designed by the Piedmontese architect Antonio Felice De Vincenti, has been modelled

Chapter Cuma. Declinazioni del digitale

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

New evidence of a Roman road in the Venice Lagoon (Italy) based on high resolution seafloor reconstruction

This study provides new evidence of the presence of an ancient Roman road in correspondence to a paleobeach ridge now submerged in the Venice Lagoon (Italy). New high resolution underwater seafloor data shed new light on the significance of the Roman remains in the lagoon. The interpretation of the data through archive and geo-archaeological research allowed a threedimensional architectural reconstruction of the Roman road. The presence of the ancient Roman road confirms the hypothesis of a stable system of Roman settlements in the Venice Lagoon. The study highlights the significance of this road in the broader context of the Roman transport system, demonstrating once more the Roman ability to adapt and to handle complex dynamic environments that were often radically different from today

THE BOUNDARY ALPINE LANDSCAPE FROM HISTORICAL MAPS TO GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS: CASE STUDY OF THE CONTADO OF ARCO (TN)

Il presente lavoro costituisce il frutto di una collaborazione interdisciplinare nata nell’ambito del progetto APSAT (Ambiente e Paesaggi dei Siti d’Altura Trentini, coordinato dal prof. G. P. Brogiolo dell’Università di Padova) fra le unità di ricerca di geografia storica e archeologia. Il contributo si propone di leggere l’evoluzione/mutamento delle dinamiche territoriali caratterizzanti il paesaggio alpino di confine dell’antico Contado di Arco, a partire dalla disamina di un documento cartografico tardo seicentesco correlato a fonti documentali coeve e tematicamente connesse. Dall’analisi documentale e cartografica vengono sviluppate le prime considerazioni critiche sulla “narrazione” del tema confinario nelle fonti geo-storiche. In seguito, viene operata l’analisi comparata con cartografie dei secoli successivi, con ortofoto a colori e all'infrarosso, oltre che con scansioni LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) che restituiscono il microrilievo locale. Tutti questi strumenti saranno integrati all'interno di un sistema informativo geografico (GIS), creando una piattaforma virtuale multitemporale che ci consentirà di impostare un'analisi telerilevata del territorio in questione. Essa renderà possibile una ricostruzione diacronica dell'evoluzione del paesaggio, con l’obiettivo di leggere ed interpretare il confine sia in chiave retrospettiva che prospettica. L'integrazione disciplinare si palesa, quindi, fondamentale ai fini dell’individuazione di siti/sedi scomparse, di definizione cronologica e funzionale dei moduli dell’architettura rurale, di riscoperta del patrimonio toponomastico locale, di ricostruzione dell’uso dei suoli e della viabilità storica, infine, di riemersione dei valori identitari. Tale convergenza metodologica potrebbe rivelarsi estremamente fruttuosa nella prospettiva di una gestione consapevole delle risorse e di una pianificazione sostenibile del territorio a scale diverse.This paper is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration that has started within the APSAT Project (Ambiente e Paesaggi dei Siti d'Altura Trentini; director Prof. G. P. Brogiolo, University of Padova), between the research unit of historical geography and that of archaeology. This paper aims to read the evolution/changing of territorial dynamics of the boundary Alpine landscape of the ancient Contado di Arco (TN), starting from the analysis of a late XVIIth – early XVIIIth century large scale historical map linked to contemporary documents. From this analysis first reflections about the “narration” of the boundary subject on historical geography sources have been developed. Then, a compared analysis with later cartography, as well as with aerial photographies and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) images that show the local morphology, has been carried out. All these instruments have been integrated inside a Geographical Information System (GIS), and a virtual multi-temporal platform has been created, as it is useful to implement a remote- sensing analysis of the studied territory. This will allow a diachronic reconstruction of the evolution of landscape, with the purpose of reading and interpreting the border in a retrospective and prospective way. The subject integration has then shown its importance in order to find out archaeological sites, to interpret function and chronology of rural architecture features, to re-discover the local thoponyms, to reconstruct land-use and historical roads, as well as to reinterpret the identitary values of landscape. This integration is supposed to be very fruitful, especially to manage the local resources and to propose a sustainable planning of the territory, with a multiple scale approach

Chapter Tracce stratificate sulle murature storiche. Tra interpretazioni e ipotesi ricostruttive

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

Past&Present at Tarchna&Tarquinia: a flexible approach to make visible the invisible

This contribution falls within the topic of the “development of guidelines and best practices” and deals with the study case of the ancient Etruscan city of Tarchna (Tarquinia, central Italy). The “Tarquinia Project” started here in 1982 with the investigations carried out by the Università degli Studi di Milano in two sacred areas and along the fortifications. The Project was endowed since its beginnings with the collaboration of several experts in disciplines other than Archaeology which number has increased in the past years. Their aim is to find out as much as possible about the material aspects of Archaeology to decode their relationship with the invisibility of ancient life. This contribution aims at presenting our approach addressed to put scholars in the condition to handle data according to their own procedures, within the same environment, through an ecosystem of benchmarks and references in ways close to the individual practices, supported by ICTs. This is meant to avoid the use of predetermined terminologies and categories, enhancing the proper methods of every single discipline involved in a multidisciplinary environment, beyond the current work of every individual scholar. We propose a radical change of perspective, starting from the collection of raw data in several fields (material aspects of Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, Architecture, Topography) to grasp the underlining model, thanks to the assessment of recurrent associations among different categories of evidence, instead of starting from preconceived theoretic models and using data to confirm them. Distinct small, medium and large scale investigation methods are integrated for the first time to produce a significant interdisciplinary cognitive tool to shift from the materiality of the leftovers of Ancient Past, to its integrity, to what lies behind at a metaphysical level and is, therefore, invisible to us. This is related to the materiality of rituals, based on the recurrence of cultic practices in the above-mentioned sacred areas, whose gestures might also be revealed by sediments and organic remains, in addition to other archaeological and epigraphic issues. Tarquinia strongly challenges researchers to be open to unconventional and unexploited issues due to the complexity of the site. It is the ideal place to create awareness among the general public about the results of Archaeological research and to disseminate and make visible its acquirements, according to the European Charter for Researchers. The support of Environmental Psychologists helps to ensuring outreach entails initiatives directed to the local population, in order to introduce them to an equilibrated connection between their invisible Past and the local present culture. In this framework students from high school are involved in the Archaeological field activities, since 2012. Our best practices are therefore addressed to give back to the ancient Etruscan city its value of prominent cultural and natural landmark in the Past, to make it possible for the modern community to assess it in the same way. According to current theories of “place identity” and "place attachment" the modern community is in the condition to feeling and experiencing the continuity between past, present and future