Cultural Heritage

cultural_1The Cultural Heritage researchers pursue activities on a number of common themes and topics that will be impacted by the shared e-Infrastructure. Common data repositories and software, such as content management system MEDICI, algorithms for remote sensing image classification, idPromo for automatic object recognition etc., will advance the research capacity of the various groups to optimally utilize them.

Beyond the data needs, VI-SEEM will also facilitate the slow transition of the Cultural Heritage community towards computational more intensive activities, such as high detail rendering of 3D modelling, and simulations of environmental influence on historical buildings. Shared datasets, easy remote access and visualization enabled by the VI-SEEM platform will offer a novel approach to Cultural Heritage research that can foster innovation in methodologies and applications used. The Cultural Heritage Scientific Community of VI-SEEM consists of 11 research institutes from 7 countries.

 

The Digital Cultural Heritage Scientific Community goals can be found here

 

Current list of selected applications

Application
Acronym
Application
Name
Scientific
Scope
Developer/
Scientific Contact
3DINV Electrical Resistivity Tomography Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) comprises one of the most important modern techniques of near surface applied geophysics. The method has met an increasing interest within the geophysical community due to its robustness and applicability in solving diverse problems related to: a) the mapping of geological formations and stratigraphy; b) the identification of underground zones related to water and mineral resources and geothermal activity; c) the detection of pollution zones and pollutants that flow in the earth’s subsurface; d) the extraction of quantitative information for buried archaeological relics; and, e) the spatial and temporal monitoring of the subsurface resistivity. The last twenty years the wide use of ERT in numerous cases has been facilitated by the development of the technology related with fully automatically multiplexed electrode arrangements and automatic measuring systems. These technological advancements make possible to acquire a large volume of data in limited time periods, the analysis of and access to these large scale data repositories can benefit greatly by the use of HPC. Further, a HPC facility would enable the integration of cross-discipline data and facilitate automated resistivity modeling and inversion schemes that aim to construct an estimate of a subsurface resistivity distribution, which is consistent with the experimental data. FRT-LGSRSA, Greece/
Nikos Papadopoulos
AutoGR Image matching with GRID system The specific application is particularly suited for large image datasets, such as the aerial photographs collected with UAVs or during systematic aerial surveys. The GRID system is going to speed up the georeferencing process. The purpose of AutoGR is to be used as online service for image georeferencing. IMS, Greece/
Aris Kidonakis
BVL Banat Virtual Library The motivation of the CUL is that Banat region is characterized by the most diverse cultural, linguistic, national and religious in Romania. Thus there are now in Banat region the following national communities: Romanian, Hungarian, German, Serbian, Italian, Slovak, Hebrew, Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Gypsy, Arabic, Persian, Indian, Chinese, Greeks, Africans, Asians, etc. All those communities left a footprint in the cultural common heritage. For a better understanding between different communities is mandatory to identify the common heritage, to know the history and the events one community can identify with, and a digital archive of the evolution of language and dialects in the region would enable mapping identities and stories of the different communities that populate the area. WUT, Romania/
Ion Faget
CH-CBIR Content-Based Image Retrieval and Classification in Cultural Heritage Applications Development of discriminative and compact image representations for CH applications. Effective and efficient algorithms for image retrieval and classification in large collections. Efficient usage of HPC and Grid infrastructure in CBIR. UBL-FEE-DSPG-CSG, Bosnia and Herzegovina/
Vladimir Risojevic
CHERE Cultural Heritage Repository Documenting and streamlining operational procedures for management and use of cultural heritage data. Application will enable efficient data creation and management for Institutions of culture as well as easier access to said data for general population. UBL-FEE, Bosnia and Herzegovina/
Mihajlo Savic
CSAD Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents, Oxford University Provide a focus for the study of ancient documents, while holding one of the largest epigraphical archive in the world. A wealth of archive materials that were previously unavailable online will be accessed by a worldwide audience. CSAD-OU, Cyprus/
Kyriakos Savvopoulos
Dioptra Dioptra: The Edmee Leventis Digital Library for Cypriot Culture To this purpose an endeavor that would greatly benefit from Grid & Cloud computing is the CyI DIOPTRA platform (http://dioptra.cyi.ac.cy/index.html), which among others hosts the Collections of Cyprus Antiquities in Foreign Museums (CCAFM) project (http://ccafm.cyi.ac.cy) that aims at assembling in a digital form all the collections of Cypriot antiquities and artifacts expatriated since the 19th century (a program conducted with the support of more than 10 international museums) so as to facilitate research in the archaeology of Cyprus. The digital registration, which has been initiated by the Cyprus Institute, will be enriched continuously, with the assistance of curators of foreign museums. The deployment plan proposes the support of DIOPTRA at the CyI, and in particular the History and Culture of Cypriot Medieval Coins component of the platform. This collaborative project with the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation (BOCCF) aims at the creation of a novel digital library that will promote the study, promotion and dissemination of the history of Medieval Cypriot Coinage (12th-16th centuries). This effort involves the implementation of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) photography and other advanced imaging applications on coins from the BOCCF’s Museum of the History of Cypriot Coinage. RTI imaging, developed at CyI’s ICACH, offers tremendous documentation and image analysis possibilities for coins. Results will be appropriately contextualized with explanatory texts and information offering an overview of the historical and cultural framework of medieval coinage in Cyprus. STARC-CI, Cyprus/
Augoustinos Augousti
ELKA Electronic Corpus of Karamanlidika Texts The final product of the Electronic Corpus of Karamanlidika (ELKA) will offer access to graphic, phonetic and morphemic varieties search, as well as ceramics and pottery study and restoration data management, visualization and presentation to wider communities. CI, Cyprus/
Stelios Irakleous
Manuscript Manuscript Provide a tool for automatic processing of historical documents, enabling scholars to access and process historical documents efficiently. BGUN, Israel/
Jihad El-Sana
PETRA Characterization and Conservation of Paintings on walls and sculptures from Nabataean Petra Characterization of newly excavated painted marble sculptures from Petra and of gilded wall paintings from Petra. The application will develop a method for confocal μXRF and μXANES, and experimental conservation material for gold on painted surfaces. Moreover the application will be surveying, documenting and condition assessment of wall and sculpture paintings in Petra. DAJ, Jordan/
Maram Na’es
VirMuf Virtual Museum Framework Popularize the museum experience by adding many ways to simplify and present archaeological and historical data. By utilizing advance programming and graphics techniques, we aim to make a tool that complements and enriches the real museum, substitutes for the inability to visit it, adds new layers and means of storytelling, connects multiple museums worldwide, and that can be used remotely by anyone in the world. BA-ISFIS, Egypt/
Mohammed Elfarargy
IMC4CH Inventory and Management Cloud for Bulgarian Cultural Heritage The application will offer shared access, learning and education opportunities. It will contribute to knowledge preservation and transmission and therefore will impact social welfare and tourism. IICT-BAS, NHM, Bulgaria/
Gennady Agre, Ivan Hristov, Ivan Georgiev