Location mapping and spatial analysis to reduce the risk of the disappearance of a past artefact (gypsum ceilings in Piedmont)

Abstract

It is well ascertained that many geomatic tools are assumptions for the preservation and development of cultural heritage (CH) and their environments. This paper intends to point out the accessibility of location mapping in order to represent complex phenomena by means of geographic information system (GIS) and the chance to perform spatial analyses intended to provide new readings concerning spatial-based sets pertaining to valuable artefacts that are not considered CH yet. The object of interest is a widespread handmade artefact that has grown in Piedmont for several centuries starting from the sixteenth century ad. They are the so-called gypsum ceilings, (i.e. a simple and ingenious building system that replaces the wooden planking lean on beam warping with a gypsum jetty). Endeavouring to avoid the extinction of this heritage, which is being methodically replaced, has the role of rebuilding the History and the Identity of the territory, and this can be obtained by sharing awareness; one of the most important aspects concerning the gypsum ceilings, relative to their load-bearing panels, is their geographical distribution. This is the reason why aimed mapping and close-range surveys have been employed to aid in increasing awareness for this phenomenon and to provide useful information to several studies concerned with this kind of cultural heritage: starting with historical investigations and moving to artistic and stylistic studies, from anthropological to social and economic implications connected to the circulation of skilled workers. We performed the organisation of a geographic information system targeted specifically to location mapping for the representation of territorial distribution of a phenomenon. Furthermore, suitable GIS analyses, based on spatial and statistical parameters, have been implemented in order to express renewed hypotheses regarding the development of the ceilings. After all, we confide that such approach can be applied to investigate and analyse other similar examples of non-monumental heritage. The metric-accurate models of some selected samples of gypsum panels, performed by LiDAR and photogrammetric processes, can allow for an increased consciousness, even through the web, to integrate the educational purposes of current exhibits in regional museums.