EpHEMERA: 3D Database System for Endangered architectural and archaeological Heritage in the south Eastern MEediterRAnea area
The World Heritage Convention, drawn by various international bodies in 1972, was designed to protect cultural or natural places of outstanding universal value so that future generations may be able to enjoy them. Responding to these principles as well as to the Charter on the Preservation of Digital heritage (Vancouver, 2003), this multidisciplinary project, which involves archaeologists, art historians, conservators and computer scientists, aims to create an open access, 3D interactive online geo-database of endangered architectural and archaeological heritage in the South Eastern Mediterranean basin; a region of tremendous cultural importance whose rich heritage is unfortunately threatened by both natural and human factors. A wide range of 3D modelling and topographic techniques have been applied to create accurate reconstructions of heritage sites, enriched by a extensive array of metadata. The Online 3D Database System for Endangered architectural and archaeological Heritage in the south Eastern MEediterRAnea area (EpHEMERA) is intended to serve as an infrastructure where it is possible to: Visualize online and through standard web browser 3D architectural and archaeological models classified according to a specific type of risk; Query the database system and retrieve metadata attached to each single virtual object (Ronzino et al., 2012); Extract geometric and morphological information.
