Mapping Heritage: Geospatial Online Databases of Historic Roads. The Case of the N-340 Roadway Corridor on the Spanish Mediterranean

Abstract

The study has developed an online geospatial database for assessing the complexity of roadway heritage, overcoming the limitations of traditional heritage catalogues and databases: the itemization of heritage assets and the rigidity of the database structure. Reflecting the current openness in the field of heritage studies, the research proposes an interdisciplinary approach that reframes heritage databases, both conceptually and technologically. Territorial scale is key for heritage interpretation, the complex characteristics of each type of heritage, and social appropriation. The system is based on an open-source content-management system and framework called ProcessWire, allowing flexibility in the definition of data fields and serving as an internal working tool for research collaboration. Accessibility, flexibility, and ease of use do not preclude rigor: the database works in conjunction with a GIS (Geographic Information System) support system and is complemented by a bibliographical archive. A hierarchical multiscalar heritage characterization has been implemented in order to include the different territorial scales and to facilitate the creation of itineraries. Having attained the main goals of conceptual heritage coherence, accessibility, and rigor, the database should strive for broader capacity to integrate GIS information and stimulate public participation, a step toward controlled crowdsourcing and collaborative heritage characterization.

Crowdsourced Geospatial Infrastructure for Coastal Management and Planning for Emerging Post COVID-19 Tourism Demand

“…Crowdsourcing seems to be an effective practice for the collection of reliable geospatial information for various land administration and planning purposes [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], as well as tourism, heritage, and travel plans [42,43]. Several recent European Commission projects in this field were mainly based on crowdsourcing techniques, in which people are used as "sensors" [44].…”

Bim and Gis Integration for Infrastructure Asset Management: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…Project M. (Abdirad and Dossick, 2020); (Ram et al, 2019); (Heaton and Parlikad, 2019); (Saldanha, 2019); (Parlikad and Catton, 2018); (Love et al, 2017b); (Smyth et al, 2017); (Love et al, 2016) (Han et al, 2016) (Love and Matthews, 2019); (Hoeber and Alsem, 2016) Data M. (Abdirad and Dossick, 2020); (Ram et al, 2019); (Dell'Acqua et al, 2018); (Zhang et al, 2018); (Delgado et al, 2017); (Love et al, 2016); (Bosch et al, 2015); (Hassan Ibrahim, 2013) (Kuller et al, 2019); (Campbell et al, 2019); (Li et al, 2018); (Loren-Méndez et al, 2018); (Pfeiffer et al, 2017);...…”

A Review of the Role of Social Media for the Cultural Heritage Sustainability

“…Various cultural heritage sites benefit from the concept of crowdsourcing, especially by web-mapping and the analysis from Geographic Information System (GIS) in mobile [26,52,53]. Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) Data is collected, computed, and visualized based on the Share Our Cultural Heritage (SOCH) web, aiming to document and share cultural heritage worldwide [26].…”

“…Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) Data is collected, computed, and visualized based on the Share Our Cultural Heritage (SOCH) web, aiming to document and share cultural heritage worldwide [26]. Meanwhile, the online geospatial heritage database can overcome many of the limitations associated with traditional heritage catalogs [52] for both tangible cultural heritage and intangible ones [53].…”