Representing archaeological uncertainty in cultural informatics

This thesis sets out to explore, describe, quantify, and visualise uncertainty in a cultural informatics context, with a focus on archaeological reconstructions. For quite some time, archaeologists and heritage experts have been criticising the often toorealistic appearance of three-dimensional reconstructions. They have been highlighting one of the unique features of archaeology: the information we have on our heritage will always be incomplete. This incompleteness should be reflected in digitised reconstructions of the past. This criticism is the driving force behind this thesis. The research examines archaeological theory and inferential process and provides insight into computer visualisation. It describes how these two areas, of archaeology and computer graphics, have formed a useful, but often tumultuous, relationship through the years. By examining the uncertainty background of disciplines such as GIS, medicine, and law, the thesis postulates that archaeological visualisation, in order to mature, must move towards archaeological knowledge visualisation. Three sequential areas are proposed through this thesis for the initial exploration of archaeological uncertainty: identification, quantification and modelling. The main contributions of the thesis lie in those three areas. Firstly, through the innovative design, distribution, and analysis of a questionnaire, the thesis identifies the importance of uncertainty in archaeological interpretation and discovers potential preferences among different evidence types. Secondly, the thesis uniquely analyses and evaluates, in relation to archaeological uncertainty, three different belief quantification models. The varying ways that these mathematical models work, are also evaluated through simulated experiments. Comparison of results indicates significant convergence between the models. Thirdly, a novel approach to archaeological uncertainty and evidence conflict visualisation is presented, influenced by information visualisation schemes. Lastly, suggestions for future semantic extensions to this research are presented through the design and development of new plugins to a search engine

The INCF Digital Atlasing Program: Report on Digital Atlasing Standards in the Rodent Brain

The goal of the INCF Digital Atlasing Program is to provide the vision and direction necessary to make the rapidly growing collection of multidimensional data of the rodent brain (images, gene expression, etc.) widely accessible and usable to the international research community. This Digital Brain Atlasing Standards Task Force was formed in May 2008 to investigate the state of rodent brain digital atlasing, and formulate standards, guidelines, and policy recommendations.

Our first objective has been the preparation of a detailed document that includes the vision and specific description of an infrastructure, systems and methods capable of serving the scientific goals of the community, as well as practical issues for achieving
the goals. This report builds on the 1st INCF Workshop on Mouse and Rat Brain Digital Atlasing Systems (Boline et al., 2007, _Nature Preceedings_, doi:10.1038/npre.2007.1046.1) and includes a more detailed analysis of both the current state and desired state of digital atlasing along with specific recommendations for achieving these goals

Digital 3D Technologies for Humanities Research and Education: An Overview

Digital 3D modelling and visualization technologies have been widely applied to support research in the humanities since the 1980s. Since technological backgrounds, project opportunities, and methodological considerations for application are widely discussed in the literature, one of the next tasks is to validate these techniques within a wider scientific community and establish them in the culture of academic disciplines. This article resulted from a postdoctoral thesis and is intended to provide a comprehensive overview on the use of digital 3D technologies in the humanities with regards to (1) scenarios, user communities, and epistemic challenges; (2) technologies, UX design, and workflows; and (3) framework conditions as legislation, infrastructures, and teaching programs. Although the results are of relevance for 3D modelling in all humanities disciplines, the focus of our studies is on modelling of past architectural and cultural landscape objects via interpretative 3D reconstruction methods

Procedimiento HBIM para implementar el conocimiento histórico-constructivo. El caso de la Real Colegiata de San Isidoro (León, España)

[EN] The development of Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) focuses (among other uses) on the adaptation of the BIM methodology to the historical building’s features, as well as on increasing geometric accuracy and on model data enrichment. Regarding the first issue, it can be underlined, on the one hand, that historical buildings are the result of a sequence of transformations that take place throughout their whole history; they cannot be considered as unitary objects that have been created in a single moment. Therefore, they have a temporal sequence which can be understood as the essence of their evolving nature. On the other hand, historical architecture has different construction materials and techniques, with other kinds of features and pathological processes that are quite different from those of contemporary buildings. In this line, this study proposes a new workflow that allows outlining new criteria that include both the temporal sequence and the constructive features of historical buildings. For this purpose, the case study of the Real Colegiata of San Isidoro in León (Spain) has been considered. In order to create the model, several modelling strategies have been used to compare both the results and the time spent in this task. Then, the model has been divided into several parts, both in terms of constructive criteria and temporal stratification, and thus, the database and the implemented information have been organized following such essential aspects of the historical building. Finally, to provide an advanced and more efficient use of the information, customized queries have been created using Dynamo, allowing searching with combined criteria and the isolation and visualization of the resulting elements. This could be helpful for both research and conservation and management activities.Highlights:A comparison of modelling strategies applied to historical buildings taking into consideration their singularities and estimation of required times and benefits.The division and taxonomy of the model to incorporate both the temporal sequence and the constructive aspects, allowing enrichment of the HBIM model with customized parameters.The development of queries generated in Dynamo to allow customized and combined searches of data, optimizing the use of the database.[ES] El desarrollo del modelado de información de edificios históricos (HBIM) se ha centrado, entre otros aspectos, en la adaptación de la metodología BIM a las características específicas de la arquitectura histórica, en el aumento de la precisión geométrica y en el enriquecimiento de los datos relacionados con el modelo. En referencia al primer aspecto, podemos destacar que los edificios históricos se caracterizan por ser el producto de una secuencia de transformaciones que tienen lugar a lo largo de su historia, de modo que no pueden concebirse como objetos unitarios creados en un momento determinado, sino que incorporan una secuencia temporal que forma parte de su esencia evolutiva. Por otro lado, a diferencia de las edificaciones actuales, la arquitectura histórica emplea técnicas y materiales constructivos distintos con características y patología diferentes. En esta línea, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo proponer un nuevo método de trabajo que permita incorporar la secuencia temporal y las características constructivas de los edificios históricos, centrándose en el caso de la Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, en León (España). Para ello, se han analizado y comparado varias estrategias de modelado, atendiendo fundamentalmente a los resultados obtenidos y al tiempo empleado en cada una de ellas. Posteriormente, el modelo se ha dividido en varias partes, teniendo en cuenta las características constructivas y la estratificación temporal y, de este modo, tanto la base de datos como la información implementada se han organizado en base a estos aspectos esenciales del edificio histórico. Finalmente, con la intención de permitir un uso avanzado y más eficiente de la información, se ha creado un sistema de consultas personalizadas con Dynamo, lo que permite la búsqueda basada en criterios combinados y la identificación y visualización de los elementos resultantes, lo cual podrá ser útil para las labores de investigación y de conservación.This research has been developed within the framework of the CampusWorld programme of the Università Politecnica delle Marche (Italy). The research is also partially framed in CIVITAS, Strategic research project of UNIVPM. The authors would like to thank the helpful collaboration of both the staff of the Museo de San Isidoro, as well as of the Servicio de Restauración of the Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural of the Junta de Castilla y León for providing the access and some data of the analyzed building.Santoni, A.; Martín-Talaverano, R.; Quattrini, R.; Murillo-Fragero, JI. (2021). HBIM approach to implement the historical and constructive knowledge. The case of the Real Colegiata of San Isidoro (León, Spain). Virtual Archaeology Review. 12(24):49-65. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2021.13661OJS49651224Achille, C., Fassi, F., Mandelli, A., Perfetti, L., Rechichi, F., & Teruggi, S. (2020). From a Traditional to a Digital Site: 2008-2019. The History of Milan Cathedral Survey. In B. Daniotti, M. Gianinetto, & S. Della Torre (Eds.), Digital Transformation of the Design, Construction and Management Processes of the Built Environment (pp. 331-341). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33570-0_30Adami, A., Fassi, F., Fregonese, L., & Piana, M. (2018). Image-based techniques for the survey of mosaics in the St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Virtual Archaeology Review, 9(19), 1-20, https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2018.9087Aparicio Resco, P., & Figueiredo, C. (2017). El grado de evidencia histórico-arqueológica de las reconstrucciones virtuales: Hacia una escala de representación gráfica - The level of historical-archaeological evidence of virtual reconstructions: Towards a scale of graphical representation. Otras Arqueologías, 1. https://doi.org/10.23914/otarq.v0i1.96Apollonio, F. I., Gaiani, M., & Sun, Z. (2016). A Reality Integrated BIM for Architectural Heritage Conservation. Handbook of Research on Emerging Technologies for Architectural and Archaeological Heritage (pp. 31-65). IGI Global, Hershey. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-0675-1.ch002Banfi, F. (2017). BIM orientation: Grades of generation and information for different type of analysis and management process. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLII-2/W5, 57-64. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W5-57-2017Banfi, F., Brumana, R., & Stanga, C. (2019). Extended reality and informative models for the architectural heritage: from scan-to-BIM process to virtual and augmented reality. Virtual Archaeology Review, 10(21), 14-30. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2019.11923Biagini, C., Capone, P., Donato, V., & Facchini, N. (2016). Towards the BIM implementation for historical building restoration sites. Automation in Construction, 71, 74-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AUTCON.2016.03.003Bruno, N., & Roncella, R. (2019). HBIM for conservation: A new proposal for information modeling. Remote Sensing, 11(15). https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11151751Brusaporci, S., Ruggeri, G., Maiezza, P., & Tata, A. (2018). AHBIM per l'analisi stratigrafica dell'architettura storica. Restauro Archeologico, 26(1), 112-131. https://doi.org/10.13128/RA-23463Caballero, L. (2010). Experiencia metodológica en Arqueología de la Arquitectura de un grupo de investigación. Instituto de Historia. CSIC. Madrid. In C. Martín Morales & E. De Vega (Eds.), Arqueología aplicada al estudio e intervención de edificios históricos. Últimas tendencias metodológicas, (pp. 103-120). Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura.Castellano-Román, M., & Pinto-Puerto, F. (2019). Dimensions and Levels of Knowledge in Heritage Building Information Modelling, HBIM: The model of the Charterhouse of Jerez (Cádiz, Spain). Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 14, e00110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2019.e00110Felicetti, A., Murano, F., Ronzino, P., & Niccolucci, F. (2015). CIDOC CRM and epigraphy: A hermeneutic challenge. CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 1656, (pp. 55-68). CEUR-WS.Gargaro, S., Giudice, M. Del, & Ruffino, P. A. (2019). Towards a multi-functional HBIM model. SCIRES-IT - SCIentific RESearch and Information Technology, 8(2), 49-58. https://doi.org/10.2423/I22394303V8N2P49Iso Committee. (2019). UNI EN ISO 19650-1:2019 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) - Information management using building information modelling.Lerma, J. L., Navarro, S., Cabrelles, M., & Villaverde, V. (2010). Terrestrial laser scanning and close range photogrammetry for 3D archaeological documentation: the Upper Palaeolithic Cave of Parpalló as a case study. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(3), 499-507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.10.011Lo Turco, M., Calvano, M., & Giovannini, E. C. (2019). DATA MODELING for MUSEUM COLLECTIONS. ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 42(2/W9), 433-440. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W9-433-2019López, F. J., Lerones, P. M., Llamas, J., Gómez-García-Bermejo, J., & Zalama, E. (2018). A review of heritage building information modeling (H-BIM). Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 2(2), 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti2020021Macher, H., Landes, T., & Grussenmeyer, P. (2017). From point clouds to building information models: 3D semi-automatic reconstruction of indoors of existing buildings. Applied Sciences, 7(10), 1030. https://doi.org/10.3390/app7101030Maietti, F., Di Giulio, R., Medici, M., Ferrari, F., Piaia, E., & Brunoro, S. (2019). Accessing and Understanding Heritage Buildings through ICT. The INCEPTION Methodology Applied to the Istituto degli Innocenti. International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/15583058.2019.1683780Malinverni, E. S., Pierdicca, R., Paolanti, M., Martini, M., Morbidoni, C., Matrone, F., & Lingua, A. (2019). Deep learning for semantic segmentation of 3D point cloud. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLII-2/W15, 735-742. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W15-735-2019Marchetti, A., Redi, F., Savini, F., Trizio, I., & Giannangeli, A. (2017). La chiesa di San Cipriano a Castelvecchio Calvisio(AQ) nella Baronia di Carapelle: documentazione speditiva e analisi stratigrafica 3D del manufatto. Archeologia Dell'Architettura», XXII, 2017, 239-253.Martín-Talaverano, R., Murillo-Fragero, J. I., & Utrero-Agudo, M. (2021). Reflexiones y criterios relativos a la creación de modelos BIM de edificios históricos. Arqueología de la Arquitectura, 18.Murphy, M., McGovern, E., & Pavia, S. (2009). Historic building information modelling (HBIM). Structural Survey, 27(4), 311-327. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8379-2.ch007Nespeca, R. (2018). Towards a 3D digital model for management and fruition of Ducal Palace at Urbino. An integrated survey with mobile mapping. SCIRES-IT - SCIentific RESearch and Information Technology, 8(2), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.2423/I22394303V8N2P1Paris, L., & Wahbeh, W. (2016). Survey and representation of the parametric geometries in HBIM Rilievo e rappresentazione delle geometrie parametriche per l 'HBIM. DISEGNARECON, 9(16).Quattrini, R., Malinverni, E. S., Clini, P., Nespeca, R., & Orlietti, E. (2015). From TLS to HBIM. High quality semantically-aware 3D modeling of complex architecture. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XL-5/W4, 367-374. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-XL-5-W4-367-2015Quattrini, R., Pierdicca, R., & Morbidoni, C. (2017). Knowledge-based data enrichment for HBIM: Exploring high-quality models using the semantic-web. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 28, 129-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2017.05.004Quattrini, R., Pierdicca, R., Morbidoni, C., & Malinverni, E. S. (2017). Conservation-oriented HBIM. The bimexplorer web tool. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 42(5W1). https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-Archives-XLII-5-W1-275-2017Santagati, C., & Lo Turco, M. (2016). From structure from motion to historical building information modeling: populating a semantic-aware library of architectural elements. Journal of Electronic Imaging, 26(1), 011007. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JEI.26.1.011007Simeone, D., Cursi, S., & Acierno, M. (2019). BIM semantic-enrichment for built heritage representation. Automation in Construction, 97, 122-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.11.004Simeone, D., Cursi, S., Toldo, I., & Carrara, G. (2014). B ( H ) IM - Built Heritage Information Modelling. Extending BIM approach to historical and archaeological heritage representation. ECAADe, 1, (pp.613-622).Tomalini, A., & Lo Turco, M. (2019). Parametric heritage. The digital reconstruction of P.L. Nervi's Palazzo del Lavoro in the 3Dmodelling age. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 42(2/W15), 1149-1155. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W15-1149-2019Uni Committee. (2017). UNI 11337-5:2017 Titolo : Edilizia e opere di ingegneria civile - Gestione digitale dei processi informativi delle costruzioni - Parte 5: Flussi informativi nei processi digitalizzati (pp. 1-24).Utrero-Agudo, M. A., & Murillo-Fragero, J. I. (2017). Arqueología de la Basílilca de San Isidoro de León. In M. A. Utrero Agudo, E. Álvarez Areces, J. M. Baltuille Martín, & J. I. Murillo Fragero (Eds.), La Real Colegiata de San Isidoro de León. Diez siglos de construcción y reconstrucción en piedra (pp. 25-166). Madrid: Instituto Geológico y Minero de España.Utrero-Agudo, M. A., Murillo-Fragero, J. I., & Martín-Talaverano, R. (2016). Virtual models for archaeological research and 2.0 dissemination: The early medieval church of San Cebrián de Mazote (Spain). SCIRES-IT - SCIentific RESearch and Information Technology, 6(2), 93-108. https://doi.org/10.2423/I22394303V6N2P93Utrero-Agudo, M., & Murillo-Fragero, J. I. (2014). San Isidoro de León. Construcción y reconstrucción de una basílica románica. Arqueologia de La Arquitectura, 11. https://doi.org/10.3989/arq.arqt.2014.011Volk, R., Stengel, J., & Schultmann, F. (2014). Building Information Modeling (BIM) for existing buildings-Literature review and future needs. Automation in Construction, 38, 109-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2013.10.02

Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts. EVA 2013 Florence

Important Information Technology topics are presented: multimedia systems, data-bases, protection of data, access to the content. Particular reference is reserved to digital images (2D, 3D) regarding Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, Palace – Monuments, Archaeological Sites). The main parts of the Conference Proceedings regard: Strategic Issues, EC Projects and Related Networks & Initiatives, International Forum on “Culture & Technology”, 2D – 3D Technologies & Applications, Virtual Galleries – Museums and Related Initiatives, Access to the Culture Information. Three Workshops are related to: International Cooperation, Innovation and Enterprise, Creative Industries and Cultural Tourism

Virtual Heritage

Virtual heritage has been explained as virtual reality applied to cultural heritage, but this definition only scratches the surface of the fascinating applications, tools and challenges of this fast-changing interdisciplinary field. This book provides an accessible but concise edited coverage of the main topics, tools and issues in virtual heritage. Leading international scholars have provided chapters to explain current issues in accuracy and precision; challenges in adopting advanced animation techniques; shows how archaeological learning can be developed in Minecraft; they propose mixed reality is conceptual rather than just technical; they explore how useful Linked Open Data can be for art history; explain how accessible photogrammetry can be but also ethical and practical issues for applying at scale; provide insight into how to provide interaction in museums involving the wider public; and describe issues in evaluating virtual heritage projects not often addressed even in scholarly papers. The book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in museum studies, digital archaeology, heritage studies, architectural history and modelling, virtual environments

Digital 3D reconstruction as a research environment in art and architecture history: uncertainty classification and visualisation

The dissertation addresses the still not solved challenges concerned with the source-based digital 3D reconstruction, visualisation and documentation in the domain of archaeology, art and architecture history. The emerging BIM methodology and the exchange data format IFC are changing the way of collaboration, visualisation and documentation in the planning, construction and facility management process. The introduction and development of the Semantic Web (Web 3.0), spreading the idea of structured, formalised and linked data, offers semantically enriched human- and machine-readable data. In contrast to civil engineering and cultural heritage, academic object-oriented disciplines, like archaeology, art and architecture history, are acting as outside spectators. Since the 1990s, it has been argued that a 3D model is not likely to be considered a scientific reconstruction unless it is grounded on accurate documentation and visualisation. However, these standards are still missing and the validation of the outcomes is not fulfilled. Meanwhile, the digital research data remain ephemeral and continue to fill the growing digital cemeteries. This study focuses, therefore, on the evaluation of the source-based digital 3D reconstructions and, especially, on uncertainty assessment in the case of hypothetical reconstructions of destroyed or never built artefacts according to scientific principles, making the models shareable and reusable by a potentially wide audience. The work initially focuses on terminology and on the definition of a workflow especially related to the classification and visualisation of uncertainty. The workflow is then applied to specific cases of 3D models uploaded to the DFG repository of the AI Mainz. In this way, the available methods of documenting, visualising and communicating uncertainty are analysed. In the end, this process will lead to a validation or a correction of the workflow and the initial assumptions, but also (dealing with different hypotheses) to a better definition of the levels of uncertainty

Structured Indoor Modeling

In this dissertation, we propose data-driven approaches to reconstruct 3D models for indoor scenes which are represented in a structured way (e.g., a wall is represented by a planar surface and two rooms are connected via the wall). The structured representation of models is more application ready than dense representations (e.g., a point cloud), but poses additional challenges for reconstruction since extracting structures requires high-level understanding about geometries. To address this challenging problem, we explore two common structural regularities of indoor scenes: 1) most indoor structures consist of planar surfaces (planarity), and 2) structural surfaces (e.g., walls and floor) can be represented by a 2D floorplan as a top-down view projection (orthogonality). With breakthroughs in data capturing techniques, we develop automated systems to tackle structured modeling problems, namely piece-wise planar reconstruction and floorplan reconstruction, by learning shape priors (i.e., planarity and orthogonality) from data. With structured representations and production-level quality, the reconstructed models have an immediate impact on many industrial applications