3d Webgis Applications for Digital Humanities Studies: The Turin 1911 Project

Abstract

Abstract. Documentation of CH is paramount to preserve its memory and allow its study, especially when CH is meant to be dismantled, as for the architectures of World’s Fairs. Very few efforts are undertaken to achieve this goal and national and international institutions rarely adopt innovative digital technologies. Digital technologies and products like 3D digital models are successfully and largely applied in CH domains, while webGIS is less explored for CH. Nevertheless, 3D digital models are rarely adopted to accompany digital archives and Digital Humanities studies. Very few cases use 3D models for World’s Fairs’ study and documentation. WebGIS is not used for World’s Fairs, and are scarcely adopted and not fully exploited by Digital Humanities and digital archives for sharing data and information about CH. Turin 1911 is the first digital project aimed to virtually document, recreate, and study an entire World’s Fair. Combining digital technologies (geo-DB, 3D digital reconstruction, and 3D webGIS) with cataloging standards, Turin 1911 is a pioneering initiative that applies these innovations to Digital Humanities in order to share information online. In this paper, dedicated webGIS applications are developed for the Turin 1911 needs, reporting the designed procedure, challenges in the development phase, and potentialities for Digital Humanities research. Finally, BIM models are also integrated in webGIS apps, making visible no more visible architectures. The paper discusses how webGIS apps could become a way for sharing information and data, but also a working environment for Digital Humanities studies where the research takes place in 3D environments.

3D WebGIS for Ephemeral Architecture Documentation and Studies in the Humanities

“…Therefore, the combination of text-based and image-based searches could constitute a powerful tool that led us to rethink the method we use for our studies [38] and how WebGIS interfaces are designed. A WebGIS can constitute a helpful tool for many studies, but it cannot be exhaustive or be overloaded with data; thus, integration with other interfaces like websites could be beneficial [39,40]. However, the observed literature does not consider the use of geo-DBs for WebGIS design, and integration with websites is scarcely applied in the digital humanities [21,22,[27][28][29]31].…”

“…Hence, a new geo-DB comprising georeferenced data and organized following cataloging standards and thesauri was created. The new website was designed, prototyped, and integrated with WebGIS applications to also display the 3D models of the reconstructed structures [39,40]. The website domain (italyworldsfairs.org) was preserved, and from 27 October 2023, the new Turin 1911 website is visible instead of the old one.…”

“…The structure of this former DB was analyzed, stressing challenges-such as the lack of structured terms and geometries-and potentialities-such as the archival materials' classification and the usage of a website retrieving data from a relational DB. A first attempt to preserve and enable the existing DB as a geo-DB was reported in [40]. After critical considerations about preserving the DB, a new strategy was designed and followed.…”

“…For the City of Turin map, the one contained in the Torino e dintorni book (Figure 7) was selected since, among the available maps, it is the most detailed and displays a larger area of the city. Shapefiles from the Base Dati Territoriale di Riferimento degli Enti (BDTRE) 40 were used as references to georeference the historical maps, following the approach reported hereafter. Once the historical map was loaded into ArcGIS Pro, the fairground map was georeferenced using adjust transformation type 41 with 60 control points spread over the city, finding homologous points in the historical map and the current map, such as corners of bridges and buildings.…”

“…Additionally, not all architecture has graphical representations, and archival research is still ongoing. The Turin 1911 team is working on the LOD 3 representation of a few pavilions, generated on the basis of the available historical documentation [39,40]. Feature classes (components and built-environment objects) are created in the spatial DB in ArcGIS Pro using WGS 1984 Web Mercator as a reference system.…”