Abstract
Abstract. Two current projects of the authors try to approach cultural heritage landscapes from both cultural sciences and geography through a combination of customised geo-information (GIS) and visualisation/presentation technology. In excess of a mere academic use, easyto- handle virtual 3D web presentations may contribute to knowledge, esteem, commemoration and preservation. The examples relate to pre-historic Scythian burial sites in the South-Siberian Altay Mountains ("Uch Enmek") as well as to a "virtual memorial" of contemporary history ("GEPAM"), a chapter of Jewish prosecution in the "Third Reich", which historically connects the town of Dresden with the Czech Terezin (Theresienstadt). It is common knowledge that a profound understanding of (pre-)historic artefacts and places may reflect a larger environment as well as an individual geographic setting. Coming from this background, the presented projects try to find technical solutions. They start from GIS models and aim at customised interactive presentations of 3D models. In using the latter a widely-spanned public is invited to a land- or townscape of specific cultural importance. The geographic space is thought to work as a door to a repository of educational exhibits under the umbrella of a web application. Within this concept a landscape/townscape also accounts for the time dimension in different scales (time of construction/operation versus actual state, and in sense of a season and time of the day as a principal modulator of visual perception of space).
Highlights
Until 2000 3D visualization of cultural heritage artifacts was used merely as a digital substitute of physical models (Novitski 1998)
Material cultural heritage objects are always related to a landscape, as for instance reflected in the discipline of Environmental Archaeology (O’Connor, 1997)
Since a steadily increasing part of geo-information is available as GISdata along with extensive analytical processing capabilities, it seems obvious to link them to 3D visualisation under the premises to filter, to translate and to optimise all visually important content with minimised interaction
Summary
Until 2000 3D visualization of cultural heritage artifacts was used merely as a digital substitute of physical models (Novitski 1998). 3D models are widely used in a presentation of historic items and structures to the public (Greengrass and Hughes, 2008) as well as in research (Favro, 2006) and education (El Darwich, 2005). Material cultural heritage objects are always related to a landscape, as for instance reflected in the discipline of Environmental Archaeology (O’Connor, 1997). “mountain landscape”), b) a momentary visual state determined by weather and illumination C) a space with affective impact („devastated landscape“), or d) an aesthetical art-related category (“landscape painting”). Though back in 1970 not connected at all to computer visualisation, points a) to c) provide a definition framework for landscape visualisation in the sense of a visual model imbedding focus objects into a characteristic geographic setting. Since a steadily increasing part of geo-information is available as GISdata along with extensive analytical processing capabilities, it seems obvious to link them to 3D visualisation under the premises to filter, to translate and to optimise all visually important content with minimised interaction
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