Ontology and collaborative data annotation for the standardisation of documentation processes of underground heritage spaces

Abstract

Progress in the field of documentation and safeguarding of heritage buildings has evolved considerably since the implementation and use of information models. However, these models are being refined and particularised in an attempt to cover the full range of elements to be protected.

There is one case that has not yet been sufficiently studied, namely the specific typology of underground built heritage spaces, where the procedures designed for more conventional buildings are not applicable. A lack of consensus has been detected in the standardisation of data processing, which is fundamentally since these spaces do not respond to the classification nor as a building or as an archaeological site.

In addition, the morphology of these spaces, -with irregular surfaces of complex geometry-, makes the three-dimensional representation indispensable to record concise and exact documentation.

This research proposes a specific methodology for processing heritage data from CIDOC-based models for underground built heritage spaces that fills the identified gap. The research also proposes solutions to the ontological problem of linking information and annotated data, establishing a methodology for performing this kind of work directly on three-dimensional models using web applications. This simplification of the procedure facilitates the reading and multidisciplinary access to the information of the agents involved in safeguarding heritage, replacing two-dimensional projections representation with the introduction of three-dimensional tools.