EuroMed2024 Workshop 1
Paradata, Metadata, and Data in 3D Digital Documentation for Cultural Heritage:
#DigitalTwins or #MemoryTwins
We are pleased to invite you to participate in a unique workshop organized by the UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage in cooperation with the EU Digital Europe Eureka3D Project, the EU eArchiving Initiative, the Earth Observation Research Lab (EOCult), the Mechanical Engineering Design & Additive Manufacturing Laboratory at CY University of Technology, the EU DARIAH / CLARIN and CLARIAH-CY research infrastructures, the ARTEST and CREAMS projects, the CY-Eureka3D Competence Centre in Digital Heritage, the EU Project ANCHISE, the IIIF International Image Interoperability Framework as well as the Connecting-RPF and the EU HE Engineer. This event will focus on the critical topic of Paradata, Metadata, and Data in the domain of 3D Digital Documentation in Cultural Heritage.
About the Workshop
Since its adoption in 2006 as part of the London Charter for the Use of 3D Visualisation in the Research and Communication of Cultural Heritage, the concept of Paradata has played an essential role in ensuring transparency in the creation of scholarly 3D Cultural Heritage assets. With further recognition by the ICOMOS Seville Charter (2017) and the European Commission’s EU VIGIE2020/654 Study on quality parameters for 3D digitisation of tangible cultural heritage, Paradata has emerged as a key aspect of 3D digital documentation.
Paradata, alongside Metadata and Geometrical Data, forms a “trinity” of elements essential for ensuring high-quality, reusable 3D digital resources. However, despite its growing importance, the Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH) community continues to grapple with fully defining and differentiating Paradata and Metadata, as well as understanding their role in supporting scholarly research, sustainability, and compliance with the European Commission’s recommendations for 3D-digitised cultural heritage.
This workshop will bring together professionals from across the spectrum of Digital Cultural Heritage to share their experiences, aiming to establish a common understanding of Paradata and lay the groundwork for a community-built set of standards and best practices for its application in 3D documentation.
Workshop Themes
We invite participation and contributions on the following topics (but not limited to):
- AI in 3D Documentation: The role of AI in improving/simplifying Complexity in data acquisition, pre-processing, and increasing quality of final results such as accuracy by the 2D/3D modelling, data compression and visualisation.
- Understanding Paradata and its relationship with 3D Data Acquisition/Documentation and/or with AI: Its definition, role, and practical challenges, risks and applications.
- Metadata and its affiliation with 3D Documentation.
- Challenges in 3D Data Documentation for Cultural Heritage.
- Challenges in AI-Driven 3D Digitisation: Data quality, ethics, and sustainability.
- A #DigitalTwin vs. #MemoryTwin: #Geometry, or #Knowledge: What is the difference and which are the challenges for the tangible digital documentation of the Past.
- BIM, HBIM and Holistic-HBIM and their relationships to #DigitalTwins or #MemoryTwins
- 3D tangible objects: Authenticity and its relationship to AI – Risks and Challenges
- Sustainability and long-term Preservation of 3D Digital Assets.
- Standardisation and Best Practices for Paradata, Metadata, and 3D Data Use in DCH: Who is doing What and How?
- 3D Viewers: The state of the art and where we are as EU?.
- 3D in XR and in the Metaverse.
- Looting, Destruction, Protection and 3D digital Documentation of tangible Cultural Heritage
- 3D Data Sets: Safety, Security, Compression and 24/7 Accessibility.
- European Commission Recommendations on 3D Digital Documentation: The State of the Art after three years of Implementation in the EU.
Who Should Participate?
This workshop is designed for:
- Professionals, researchers, and practitioners in Digital Cultural Heritage.
- The multidisciplinary community of experts involved in 3D documentation, digitisation projects, and cultural heritage preservation.
- Individuals interested in advancing the understanding and use of Paradata, Metadata, and 3D data in heritage projects.
Submission Guidelines
We welcome proposals for Presentations: 30-minute talks on any of the workshop’s themes and please submit a 300-word abstract including:
- Title
- Brief description (300 words max)
- Presenter bio
- Please include the note “3D Digital Documentation Workshop” in the Comments section of the submission form
Important Dates
- Submission Deadline: November 10th 2024
- Notification of Acceptance: November 15th 2024
- Workshop Date: 2nd of December 2024 at Cyprus University of Technology
Registration Information
To attend the workshop, please register HERE. Participation is per registration and is mandatory.
A special publication will be available by Springer-Nature (free of charge). All authors of the accepted abstracts will be asked to submit their 10-12 pages long paper before the end of the year and the publication will be available at the beginning of the new year 2025.
Contact Information
For any inquiries or additional information, please contact us at [email protected]
Join us in shaping the future of 3D Digital Documentation in Cultural Heritage and contribute to advancing our understanding of Paradata, Metadata, and their significance about the Memory/Knowledge of the Past.
Organisers
- Date: 2nd December 2024 Time: 10:00-17:00
- UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage - Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus, Heritage Malta, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Hochschule Mainz – University of Applied Sciences
Accepted Abstracts and Authors
Cyprus University of Technology
Cyprus
Marinos Ioannides
Dr. Marinos Ioannides is the director of the Digital Heritage Research Lab (DHRLab) at the Cyprus University of Technology in Limassol. He received his MSc in Computer Science and his PhD (Dr.-Eng) from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, pioneering work on the 3D Volumetric Reconstruction of any objects from digitised scattered data.
In 1995 he received for his achievements from the European Commission the prestigious EU KIT award and in 2010 he was awarded from the Spanish Association of Virtual Archaeology the prestigious Tartessos prize for his successes in 3D-documentation in Cultural Heritage. In 2017, Marinos received the unique UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage. In 2018 the EU Innovation Award at the Innovators in Cultural Heritage Fair in Brussels, he received from the European Commission the European Research Area (ERA) Chair award on Digital Cultural Heritage with a €2.5M financial support in order to establish regional Centre of Excellence on Digital Cultural Heritage in Cyprus.
In 2019 the European Commission/Research Executive Agency declared his project Marie Curie Action Project (MSCA ITN-DCH) as one of the best five projects under the category: “Life Changing Innovation projects” in the last decade (2009-2019) in the EU.
In 2022 the European Commission declared the results of the EU VIGIE2020/654 Study on quality in 3D digitisation of tangible objects as exceptional and published them as an official document of the EU. The Study was the result of a highly competitive tender, which was the first to be announced in the area of Cultural Heritage and in the history of the European Commission.
Why Digitise the Past? Digital Twin or #Memory Twin: What’s the Next Step in Cultural Heritage Documentation ?
Memory Twin, an innovative framework born at the UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage, represents a ground-breaking evolution of the digital surrogate concept. Unlike the conventional Digital Twin that focuses on creating virtual replicas of physical heritage, the Memory Twin integrates the tangible and intangible aspects of cultural assets. This approach preserves not only buildings, artefacts, and landmarks but also their associated culturally significant stories, rituals, and knowledge. As an approach to holistic preservation, Memory Twin reflects an understanding that cultural heritage is not solely defined by its material aspects but by the traditions, memories, and narratives that give it life and meaning.
Memory Twin provides a new model for heritage preservation that captures the interconnectedness between physical heritage and cultural context. This dynamic interaction enriches the digital representation of heritage, ensuring future generations receive a legacy that includes both the material and the experiential dimensions of culture. Memory Twin’s framework allows for the full expression of heritage, making it globally accessible and minimising the need for physical travel that can lead to over-tourism and environmental stress on heritage sites.
As a forward-looking approach, Memory Twin invites a global audience to engage with digital cultural heritage in an authentic and meaningful way. It supports cultural sustainability by offering experiences that convey the essence of heritage through both its physical and intangible qualities. This inclusive, digitally enhanced framework goes beyond preservation, encouraging an interactive, evolving relationship with cultural heritage that respects and builds on its complex identity.
Heritage Malta
Malta
Anthony Cassar
Tony Cassar is the head of the Technology and Experience Development Unit at Heritage Malta, overseeing the preservation and digitization of over 90 national cultural heritage sites, including numerous UNESCO sites. With over 25 years of experience in IT and multimedia, Tony champions digital transformation initiatives to make Malta’s cultural heritage accessible and engaging worldwide. He is an advocate for high standards in digitization, especially in 3D digitization, and promotes the reuse of 3D digital assets in various outreach efforts, ensuring that Malta’s rich heritage is preserved and appreciated across borders and generations.
Memory Twins: A New Much Needed Dimension in Preserving National Collections
The “Memory Twin” concept is an exciting new approach in the field of heritage preservation, adding depth to how we understand and interact with historical sites and collections. It goes beyond the physical preservation of buildings and objects, focusing also on the memories, stories, and experiences that surround them. In this framework, buildings are not just architectural structures, but monuments imbued with the cultural significance of the past. Similarly, collections are transformed into living museums, where the memories associated with artefacts are just as valuable as the objects themselves.
At the heart of this concept is the integration of a multidisciplinary approach, blending digital heritage, conservation, and information technology to create a holistic framework. By leveraging Building Information Modelling (BIM) techniques, combined with emerging technologies like 3D digitisation, augmented reality, and interactive storytelling, the Memory Twin aims to preserve not only physical aspects but also the intangible cultural elements that breathe life into heritage.
In the context of digitising the Maltese National Collection, the Memory Twin concept can be adapted to capture not only the physical attributes of artefacts but also the rich cultural narratives that surround them. I will speak about three case studies where we are trying to achieve this – the Dockyard Collection, Villa Portelli and Villa Gwardamangia. By integrating memories into advanced technologies like 3D modelling, virtual reality, and digital storytelling, this approach will ensure that Malta’s heritage is preserved in a way that reflects its full historical and emotional depth, creating interactive experiences that resonate with both local and global audiences.
eArchiving Initiative
Ireland
Janet Anderson
My 3D model is wonderful now, but will it last? How the EU’s eArchiving Initiative’s E-ARK specifications can help future-proof 3D DCH Documentation
The eArchiving Initiative is a European Commission programme that provides necessary specificity and guidance for implementing conformant and interoperable Open Archival Information Systems (OAIS, ISO 14721) via core package specifications, software, a reference architecture, training and a Conformance Seal. Content Information Type Specifications (CITS) further extend this core to support data types such as relational databases, geospatial data, and record management systems in domains such as eHealth, Engineering and Cultural Heritage.
In the last two years, the Initiative has produced a new specification for 3D Product Model data that supports the domain of engineering product models (such as Computer Aided Design) and builds on the existing standards LOTAR (Long Term Archiving and Retrieval, EN/NAS 9300) and STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data, ISO 10303). This CITS has recently completed public review and is due to be published by the DILCIS Board (https://dilcis.eu/).
Continuing this work, eArchiving is now working with domain experts, including Marinos Ioannides (Mnemosyne) and Franco Niccolucci (Prisma) to develop a new CITS for 3D models in Cultural Heritage.
This presentation will introduce the eArchiving initiative and its core specifications, an overview of work done so far on specifications for 3D models in Engineering and Cultural Heritage and future work planned for a construction domain CITS for Building Information Models (BIM). In particular, the presentation will highlight accommodations and requirements made in the Cultural Heritage CITS for paradata and metadata and considerations concerning technical metadata and authentication of models.
The presentation will then look forward to the establishment of a framework for the archiving of complete product designs, construction projects or heritage memory twins via collections of archival packages (AIPs) linked via the new Records in Contexts ontology (RiC) in development by the International Council on Archives (ICA).
IIIF 3D Community and Technical Specification Group
The United Kingdom
Ronald Haynes
IIIF 3D & Data Dimensions – Countdown on Collaborative Standards for Sustainable Digital Heritage
The expanding considerations of intangible as well as tangible cultural heritage, and memory twins along with digital twins, has extraordinary potential for adding more human aspects, if we can find ways to express it in a common and supported framework. In a related way, the IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) provides a vital model for a communal approach to successfully developing and adopting a framework for pairing essential data and metadata, shared via documented APIs and expressed within a clearly-specified manifest structured in a JSON-LD file. This workshop will explore the potential to create a similar structured document for essential paradata, to complement the extensive digital collections using IIIF to enable sharing, extending and blending collections globally.
To complement the impact of the IIIF in 2D and Audio/Video (A/V) digital collections around the world, the IIIF 3D Technical Specification Group (TSG) has a road map to draft standards for 3D content, incorporating established open web standards, to complement and expand the potential of all IIIF-based collections worldwide. Engaging with specialists and representatives across user communities, international and standards bodies, the TSG are expanding options for better data sharing across institutions, to help overcome barriers for sustainable digital collections.
This session will provide a detailed introduction to current proposed changes to the IIIF Presentation API specification that will enable presentation and display of 3D resources using IIIF tools. There will be draft examples of IIIF Presentation documents encoding 3D resources and demos of viewers that support these documents to display 3D web content, and ways of storytelling and interacting by combining 3D, 2D and A/V.
There will be open discussion of the specification draft work-in-progress, and use cases that involve more advanced 3D implementations, especially those involving annotation, interaction, and/or animation, that are planned to be supported in the standard’s specifications.
The Cyprus Institute
Cyprus
Valentina Vassallo
Illicit trafficking of Cultural Goods: A Challenge for AI in a time without 3D standards
The potential benefits of technology are now well known to the various stakeholders involved in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods. As in other fields, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as a solution to combat smuggling networks.
AI is already being called upon to provide answers to several challenges in the fight against illicit trafficking: rapid detection to improve controls, especially for cultural objects that are not listed in repositories, and identification in a multitude of Internet sites (e.g., web scanning, data crawling), to automate time-consuming monitoring operations that cannot be carried out on such a scale by human inspection alone.
However, there are still difficulties in its application. Increasing amounts of multimodal data are needed to feed the ever-growing machine learning processes. In archaeology, where typologies are uneven in number and quality, this growing demand poses the challenge of digitising our heritage. Furthermore, the increasing use of AI tools also increases the need for data access and standardisation.
In this context, the contribution from the EU-funded HE ANCHISE project will present and provide operational AI tools as well as data access and standardisation capabilities. Its toolkit of five AI applications ranges from site monitoring, field object identification, web crawling, big data market analysis and specific object characterisation. All five solutions are linked in an interoperable repository. The tools developed within ANCHISE and their different application areas will provide practical solutions for the so-called source, transit and destination countries of illicit cultural goods trafficking, facilitating the work of stakeholders involved in the fight.
Institute of Computer Science,
Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas (FORTH)
Greece
Xenophon Zabulis
Representation and preservation of traditional crafting techniques
Despite notable progress in digitising tangible cultural heritage artefacts and monuments, the systematic documentation of their making processes remains relatively underexplored. Contemporary initiatives in the field of traditional crafts are beginning to address this gap by focusing on digitising and documenting crafting methods. Such documentation goes beyond capturing the geometry and appearance of tools to include insights into how these tools are used, as well as their significance in constructing buildings and manufacturing objects. The use of digital tools thus holds potential not only for preserving knowledge essential to traditional making techniques but also for supporting conservation efforts that respect the original crafting methods of artefacts and monuments.
Traditional practitioners employ sensory judgement to assess material properties of individual workpieces and environmental conditions, influencing their choices of specific techniques and treatments. Therefore, the digitisation and visualisation of workspaces, tools, and materials used in creating objects and buildings is required, for educational and training application that safeguard crafting knowledge. This aspect underscores the importance of standardising the ways in which these activities and associated knowledge are documented to ensure accurate representation and preservation.
This work explores methods for the semantic representation of crafting knowledge, integrated with the digitisation of craft products, spanning from small artefacts to large structures, including buildings and monuments, developed in the Craeft Research and Innovation action of the European Commission. Furthermore, it provides an outlook on the challenges inherent in formally representing this knowledge within interoperable formats, aligned with established best practices in the cultural heritage domain. The presented approach aims to advance the preservation of traditional craft knowledge and techniques in a digital form, fostering a comprehensive understanding of heritage-making processes for future generations
Uppsala University
Sweden
Isto Huvila
Isto Huvila holds the Chair in Information Studies at the Department of ALM (Archival Studies, Library and Information Science and Museums and Cultural Heritage Studies) at Uppsala University in Sweden, and is Adjunct Professor (docent) in Information Management at Information Studies, Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland. Huvila chaired the COST Action ARKWORK and is directing the ERC funded research project CAPTURE. His primary areas of research include information and knowledge management, information work, knowledge organisation, documentation, and social and participatory information practices.
Generating paradata by asking questions or telling stories
Earlier studies point to a broad diversity of information – paradata – that can convey understanding of practices and processes underpinning the making of different types of research materials, including digital 3D visualisations. Similarly, a large number of practices relating to generation and use of such information have been identified. What remains underresearched so far is, how the practices of generating and using paradata intersect.
This presentation draws from on-going research on paradata creators and users paradata preferences to identify and analyse two major categories of paradata generation based on requesting input from researchers through asking them to provide answers to specific questions and asking them to provide narrative descriptions of their activities. The presentation discusses examples and differences of the two approaches — including conversational agents and structured metadata of the first, and data narratives and argumentation chains of the second — and their outputs, and contrasts them to findings on the preferences of paradata creators and users. The tentative conclusion suggests that despite overlap the two broad approaches are likely to lead to ontologically distinct kinds of paradata that vary in their capacity to inform of practices and processes for different purposes in spite of their possible superficial similarity with each other.
University of Cologne
Germany
Øyvind Eide
Øyvind Eide is a professor in Digital Humanities at the University of Cologne. He holds a PhD in Digital Humanities from King’s College London (2013). He was an employee in various positions at The University of Oslo from 1995 to 2013, working on digital humanities and cultural heritage informatics. From 2013 to 2015 he was a Lecturer and research associate at The University of Passau. He was the chair of The European Association for Digital Humanities (EADH) from 2016–19 and also actively engaged in several other international organisations including ICOM’s International Committee for Documentation (CIDOC). His research interests are focused on transformative digital intermedia studies as a tool for critical engagement with media differences, especially the relationships between texts and maps as media of communication. He is also engaged in theoretical studies of modelling in the humanities as well as beyond.
3D and Annotations: Towards a Semantic Web for Cultural Heritage?
The EPOCH network of excellence was a significant collection of cultural heritage institutions in Europe, with around 100 partners involved. Its goals included the integrating of cultural heritage resources and the improvement of production pipelines for digital resources. Towards the end of the project a need for better integrating 3D resources to textual sources was identified, and an ontological approach was tried out for the concrete connection between resources. The results of this experiment was published in Havemann et al. (2009).
Annotations was traditionally a way to add comments and extensions to manuscripts, which developed into the footnote as a formalised system for second layers in texts (Grafton 1997). It was also used to add information to images and grew into text encoding as part of digitisation of paper-based resources—mainly texts, but later also documents as spatial objects, also with images being annotated (TEI Consortium 2024).
With the development for 3D modelling as a means to digitise physical objects, as well as to make born digital models, annotation was also extended to such objects. The Kompakkt annotation tool2 does not only enable annotations of different digital objects including 3D models, but also the annotations themselves are extended multimodal objects, and they can be linked together for storytelling. In the Artest project3 a digital lab is being developed as a WordPress system where storytelling in text and image includes 3D annotated models using embedded Kompakkt windows as part of the narrative structure.
The paper will describe this development and discuss where it might go from here, seeing annotations as mechanisms for the integration of complex objects across media borders.
Hochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences
Germany
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Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna
Italy
Piotr Kuroczyński & Fabrizio Ivan Apollonio
Piotr Kuroczyński is an architect specializing in the field of digital 3D reconstruction, documentation and visualization of cultural heritage. He is co-founder and convenor of the Digital 3D-Reconstruction Working Group in the Digital Humanities in German-speaking Region Association. Since 2017 he has been Professor for Computer Science and Visualization in Architecture at the Hochschule Mainz – University of Applied Sciences Mainz. Since 2018 he is the head of the Institute of Architecture and the chief-in-editor of the book series Computing in Art and Architecture at the Heidelberg University Library. His interests include Virtual Research Environments, semantic data modelling, (Heritage/Historic) Building Information Modeling, 3D modelling, documentation and visualization standards for digital 3D reconstruction of cultural heritage.
Fabrizio I. Apollonio is the Director of the Department of Architecture at Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna since May 2021. Full Professor in Architectural Representation since 2014. He carries out teaching and research activities in the field of architectural representation and survey. The research interests are directed, in particular, towards hypothetical reconstructions, 3D digital modelling and surveying with photogrammetric and laser scanner technologies, applied in the fields of architecture, archeology and Cultural Heritage. He currently focuses his research on the theme of virtual reconstruction of disappeared and/or never built architectural and archaeological works, participating as a partner in the DFG-3D Rekonstruktion Netzwerk.
Introducing Scientific Reference Model and Critical Digital Model – Methodological approach in hypothetical source-based 3D reconstruction of built cultural heritage
In 3D digital documentation for Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH), the integration of Scientific Reference Models (SRM) and Critical Digital Models (CDM) offers a structured approach to managing metadata and paradata, and geometrical data — key elements for ensuring high-quality, transparent, and reusable 3D heritage assets. These models directly address the pressing challenges identified by the DCH community: achieving rigorous documentation standards, fostering scholarly transparency, and aligning with international charters and EU standards on quality for 3D digitization.
SRM establishes a foundational framework prioritizing web-based publication, metadata and paradata, and technical reliability based on standardized data exchange formats. It emphasizes interoperability and FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), making it possible to create models that meet diverse application needs and serve as foundational references for ongoing digital heritage study and reusability. CDM delves into the interpretive dimension of documentary sources, highlighting paradata necessary to ensure the transparency of hypothetical 3D reconstructions. This approach tracks interpretive and conjectural decisions and represents the level of uncertainty that informs digital heritage models. In this way, CDM addresses the inherent gaps and ambiguities present in source-based reconstructions, which can be used as a three-dimensional reference document for scholars, supporting informed critical engagement.
Jointly, SRM and CDM form a cohesive methodology that brings structure, interoperability, reusability, reliability and interpretive clarity to 3D heritage documentation. This unified framework closes existing gaps in 3D reconstruction and documentation standards by offering an application related methodological approach. It allows 3D models to function as “Memory Twins,” encapsulating the artifact and the scholarly interpretation behind its digital reconstruction. The proposal to the DCH community is to consider SRM and CDM as practical, standards-driven solutions that advance the field of 3D documentation by bridging data rigor and harmonization with interpretive transparency, essential for sustainable and insightful heritage preservation.
Hochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences
Germany
Igor Piotr Bajena & Piotr Kuroczyński
Igor Bajena is an architect specialising in digital 3D reconstruction, documentation and visualisation of cultural heritage. He earned a MSc in architecture at Warsaw University of Technology in 2019. Since 2018, he has been researching at the Institute of Architecture at the Hochschule Mainz – University of Applied Sciences Mainz (AI MAINZ). In 2021, he started work on his PhD dissertation at the University of Bologna in cooperation with AI MAINZ on the topic of „Digital 3D-reconstruction as a research environment in art and architecture history – Infrastructure for documentation and publication“. Since 2022, he has been teaching as a guest tutor in digital reconstruction courses at the Hochschule Mainz, the Warsaw University of Technology, and the University of Bologna. His main areas of research include the lost architectural heritage of synagogues, the development of the SchUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz, the use of additive manufacturing prints in disseminating reconstruction research, and methods for the documentation of digital reconstructions with particular emphasis on ontological approach and CIDOC CRM.
Developing the core data model for 3D – Exploring the metadata and paradata throughout current 3D infrastructure projects
3D models have become essential tools for preserving our contemporary heritage and for visualizing historical legacies. However, without standardized approaches to describing and documenting these digital assets, 3D models risk becoming unreliable, as they can convey mere fantasy instead of authentic representations. Thus, it is critical to include metadata with each 3D model, allowing for at least a minimal level of classification and identification of the digital asset.
In recent years, numerous projects have emerged to address 3D model preservation, yet a shared metadata standard for the community remains undeveloped. This contribution presents efforts from the DFG 3D-Viewer project (Infrastructure for Digital 3D Reconstructions) through metadata workshops conducted with German and European infrastructure projects on 3D in Mainz (December 2022) and Munich (March 2023). These discussions explored whether a shared framework could exist between infrastructures with varied goals and audiences, whether a universal documentation scheme for 3D cultural heritage models is possible, and how to define a minimum metadata set that could serve as a foundation for a standard.
However, human-readable metadata alone is no longer sufficient, especially given the increasing impact of the digital turn. To achieve effective and sustainable documentation, published data must also be machine-readable. Therefore, this work also considered digital cultural heritage ontologies, analysing their potential application in documenting 3D digital models, identifying gaps, and proposing solutions based on frameworks like CIDOC CRM, CRMdig, and OntSciDoc3D.
The results of this contribution offer proposals for documenting digital 3D models through metadata and ontologies, serving as initial examples for further discussion
Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna
Italy
Fabrizio I. Apollonio, Riccardo Foschi, & Federico Fallavollita
Fabrizio I. Apollonio is the Director of the Department of Architecture at Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna since May 2021. Full Professor in Architectural Representation since 2014. He carries out teaching and research activities in the field of architectural representation and survey. The research interests are directed, in particular, towards hypothetical reconstructions, 3D digital modelling and surveying with photogrammetric and laser scanner technologies, applied in the fields of architecture, archeology and Cultural Heritage. He currently focuses his research on the theme of virtual reconstruction of disappeared and/or never built architectural and archaeological works, participating as a partner in the DFG-3D Rekonstruktion Netzwerk.
Uncertainty assessment for hypothetical reconstruction of lost or never built architecture. A challenge in 3D data documentation
The scientific community involved in hypothetical reconstructions of unbuilt or lost architectural works is increasingly committed to standardizing scientifically accurate methodologies and procedures. This commitment aims – among the others – to establish a transparent, user-independent, and traceable process that quantifies the average level of uncertainty in 3D digital architectural models.
Numerous projects have addressed the challenge of demonstrating the complete interpretive process and assessing the reliability of its components. These efforts (i) propose solutions to accurately contextualize the reconstructive assumptions used, (ii) evaluate uncertainty levels, and (iii) enable comparisons among different hypotheses and model variants. Since hypothetical reconstruction relies heavily on subjective interpretation, a new methodology has been developed to evaluate and communicate this subjectivity in an objective and reproducible manner.
Initially developed within the DFG Netzwerk 3D-Rekonstruktion project and further advanced in the CoVHer project, the proposed approach applies mathematical formulas to numerical values derived from a defined uncertainty scale. This scale has been designed to simplify, reuse and enhance transparency in 3D models created from reconstructive hypotheses. Accompanied by a false-color graphic uncertainty scale, this synthetic method effectively clarifies and helps in qualifying the work in a clear and transmittable way. An open-source plugin has also been specifically developed to automate the calculation of average uncertainty in 3D digital architectural models, further supporting transparency and consistency in these projects.
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Germany
Sander Münster
Dr. Sander Münster is junior professor for Digital Humanities (images/objects) at the Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena (DE). He received his PhD in educational technology from the Technische Universität Dresden (DE), where he studied history, education and business. Until 2019 he headed the Department for Media Design at the Media Center at the TU Dresden and the junior research group UrbanHistory4D and has been a Young Investigator at the Faculty of Education at the TU Dresden.
His research fields are mobile 3D interfaces, scientometrics and research methodologies in Digital Humanities and heritage. He has worked extensively in the areas of research dissemination and innovation support. The related positions he has held include: co-convenor of the workgroup for Digital Reconstruction of the German Association for Digital Heritage, spokesman of the German network on “3D reconstruction methods for architectural history” and head of the workgroup “Partnering with international organisations” in the Virtual Multimodal Museum EU network.
Since the beginning of 2024 he is an elected member of the CIPA Heritage Documentation executive board, co-chairing the Permanent Commission “Application of Recording, Documentation, and Information Management for Cultural Heritage”.
3D data documentation – from theory to automation
Digital 3D modelling technologies have been widely used to support research and teaching in the humanities, especially but not exclusively for historical architecture. Despite the immense efforts made to establish information technologies, and in particular 3D technologies such as digital 3D modelling and visualisation, as everyday tools for humanities researchers, the current situation is still ambiguous. On the one hand, humanities researchers often use a wide range of digital tools for information retrieval, communication, publication and research support (e.g. reference management or personal organisation). There is also a large number of projects investigating and using these technologies in different settings. On the other hand, the use of digital tools for research work varies widely between the sub-disciplines of the humanities, and the development of this field is driven by language and text-related disciplines such as linguistics or edition studies.
A major challenge is the documentation of 3D modelling in terms of results and workflows. This is usually done through data, metadata and paradata. This paper proposes to (a) highlight the core concepts and challenges of documenting 3D models of built heritage, and in particular 3D reconstructions as usually hand-modelled digital representations of non-existent or never realised buildings and cityscapes. (b) A subsequent part quantifies the state of the art of 3D data and infrastructure. Several technologies and in particular AI-based approaches are used to support and automate the documentation and metadata generation process. (c) Within the DFG 3D Viewer repository we use and test different LLM and VLM models for data enrichment – supporting tasks like classification of 3D content, extraction of location information, generation of descriptions and translation of captions. All approaches have been applied to a sample of 1,000 3D meshes so far.
Europeana Foundation
The Netherlands
Jolan Wuyts
Jolan currently works in the Europeana Collections team to improve collections visibility, innovate editorial and thematic collection production, and support campaigns and external projects. Jolan co-chairs the Diversity and Inclusion cross-team. He is a project manager for multiple Generic Service and H2020 projects.
Jolan holds Master’s degrees in Digital Humanities from KU Leuven and History from Ghent University. He is interested in digital library science, information databases, and knowledge communication and dissemination in a historical perspective. He also enjoys Calvin & Hobbes, Magic: the Gathering, and Critical Role.
The Future of 3D digitization and access in the data space
After the successful “Twin It! 3D for Europe’s Culture” campaign came to a close in Brussels in May 2024, the Twin It Call to action was launched. What does this call to action mean for the upcoming projects and data space work in the next few years? How do we tackle storage and viewer concerns? How do we bring 3D heritage closer to different audiences and enable reuse? Jolan Wuyts will show Europeana’s perspective on these challenges, highlight Europeana’s priorities towards 3D heritage in the data space, and brings an open call for discussion and collaboration.
Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna
Italy
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Hochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences
Germany
Fabrizio I. Apollonio, Federico Fallavollita, Riccardo Foschi, Piotr Kuroczynski, Igor Piotr Bajena
Fabrizio I. Apollonio is the Director of the Department of Architecture at Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna since May 2021. Full Professor in Architectural Representation since 2014. He carries out teaching and research activities in the field of architectural representation and survey. The research interests are directed, in particular, towards hypothetical reconstructions, 3D digital modelling and surveying with photogrammetric and laser scanner technologies, applied in the fields of architecture, archeology and Cultural Heritage. He currently focuses his research on the theme of virtual reconstruction of disappeared and/or never built architectural and archaeological works, participating as a partner in the DFG-3D Rekonstruktion Netzwerk.
Reviving Europe’s Architectural Heritage: The CoVHer Project’s Standards for 3D Digital Reconstructions
The CoVHer project focused on enhancing the digital documentation and study of European Architectural Cultural Heritage (CH) that no longer existed or was never built by establishing standards for creating and assessing scientifically accurate 3D reconstructions. Addressing the previous lack of standards, CoVHer clarified the difference between credible reconstructions and amateur models. Through practical guidelines and a shared vocabulary, the project improved the quality, transparency, and accessibility of Computer-based Visualisation of Cultural Heritage (CVCH) models.
The project involved five universities and two companies across Europe, as well as museums and municipalities, to create a collaborative framework. CoVHer’s methodologies were aligned with international frameworks, including the UNESCO Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage and FAIR principles, ensuring accuracy and interoperability. Its objectives included establishing standards for model construction, ensuring source traceability, promoting accessibility across digital platforms, and developing scientifically grounded visualization techniques.
One of the main outputs of CoVHer was the creation of an Open Access platform, a unique repository for 3D models specifically dedicated to vanished or unbuilt European architectural heritage. This digital repository allowed scholars to share, evaluate, and critically assess 3D models with comprehensive source documentation. For the general public, the platform offered insights into the value of these historical sites, enriching collective knowledge of European CH.
As part of its educational impact, CoVHer developed a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to educate both students and the public on the scientific aspects of virtual reconstructions, bridging digital skills gaps in higher education. This MOOC provided accessible training on best practices in 3D modeling, quality evaluation, and historical visualization. By engaging academic and public audiences, CoVHer fostered a deeper understanding of European CH and strengthened cultural identity through innovative, digital learning.
