Digital heritage inventory using open source geospatial software

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a digital heritage inventory system using open source geospatial software. In particular, we used the Arches-HIP (Heritage Inventory Package), which is a system jointly developed by the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and World Monuments Fund (WMF) to inventory immovable heritage. The study sites are three rural villages located in Hualien County of Taiwan. The field data include GPS-tagged images, video and audio recordings, and panoramic images of heritage resources such as historic buildings and sites, artifacts, activities, cultural and natural landscapes. Smart phones were used to record the GPS waypoints of field survey, and a panoramic system was used to acquire panoramic imageries of various resources. By using the Arches-HIP system, we established a web-based geographic information system for managing all the digital heritage resources, which are 188 heritage resources categorized into six types, including heritage resources, heritage resource groups, activity, historic event, actor, and information objects. The research results show that open source geospatial software are very economical and effective tools for managing digital heritage resources. More importantly, the Arches system incorporates international standards in the fields of heritage inventory, heritage data management, and information technology, which is very valuable to create more accessible digital heritage information to the general public, as well as an interoperable and shareable database to researchers and practitioners of heritage conservation from anywhere in the world. This is especially important for international collaboration on heritage conservation.