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In this paper, we highlight the need in humanities research for 3D tools with enhanced analytical functionality and present an innovative 3D Web GIS system that we are developing – called QueryArch3D – for studies of ancient architecture and landscapes. We explore the role this tool is playing in the development of new methodologies and formulating and addressing research questions in humanities research. Specifically, we demonstrate how research and teaching on archaeology and art history can be dramatically assisted by a Virtual Research Environment that offers the ability to search and query segmented 3D models (both CAD and reality-based) that are linked to attribute data stored in a spatial database in the context of an online VR landscape – in this case, the eighth-century Maya kingdom of Copan, Honduras.
Modern sensor and computing technologies are changing the practice of art history and archaeology because they offer innovative ways to document, reconstruct, and research the ancient world (e.g., El-Hakim et al. 2008; Reindel & Wagner 2009). 3D digital models and virtual reality (VR) environments allow for remote viewing of objects, as well as multiple iterations of hypothetical reconstructions, and offer the sense of space and experience that researchers now desire (e.g., Barcelo et al. 2000). But, as has been pointed out, there is a common perception that while 3D models are good for education or data conservation, they are not useful for research because they are often deemed as purely illustrative and not useful for analysis (e.g., Frischer & Dakouri-Hild 2008). One promising opportunity offered by 3D models is to use them as visualization ‘containers’ for different kinds of information. Given the possibility to link their geometry to external data, 3D models can be analyzed, split into sub-components, and organized following proper rules. Powerful 3D visualization tools already exist, but often they implement no or only limited query functionalities for data retrieval, and very few of these are web-based. In contrast, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) include queries as standard functions and allow for complex spatial analyses – and therefore are well-suited to research (e.g., Bodenhamer et al. 2010; Conolly & Lake 2006).
Along these lines, archaeologists are using GIS to perform quantitative analyses, such as visibility, accessibility, and network studies, to explore the structure of ancient societies and relationships between anthropogenic and natural phenomena. GIS software, however, falls short when dealing with detailed and complex 3D data. It is comprised of 2.5D data, which are not ideally suited to approaches such as performance studies, phenomenology and aesthetics, the relationship of architecture and landscape, and archaeoastronomy that are becoming increasingly common in archaeology and art history. 3D models of architecture are simply more appropriate for these kinds of investigations, but most 3D digital models of architecture are single objects, removed from the context of their place in the landscape and are not linked to scientific data.
In 2009, the MayaArch3D Project (http://mayaarch3d.unm.edu) was begun to explore the
possibilities of integrating GIS and 3D digital tools for humanities research. This
interdisciplinary, international project was funded largely by two Digital
Humanities Start-Up Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (USA) and
brings together art historians, archaeologists, and cultural resource managers with
experts in remote sensing, photogrammetry, 3D modeling, and virtual reality. The
project was founded by Jennifer von Schwerin and Heather Richards-Rissetto at the
University of New Mexico working with data from the UNESCO World Heritage site and
ancient Maya city in Copan, Honduras, when they realized that their research goals
would be better served if they could join their separate sets of data in a tool that
linked GIS and 3D data in a virtual reality environment. Von Schwerin, an art
historian, had turned to digital 3D tools in order to test her reconstructions of an
eighth-century temple at Copan (Figure 1). But other aspects of her research seek to
analyze the temple within its larger urban context and the role that space plays in
human experience – something for which GIS is well-suited. Richards-Rissetto, an
archaeologist, created a GIS for Copan to study the visual and spatial relationships
between built forms and natural landscape features, but soon realized that her
research could benefit from a 3D perspective, as the 2D perspective of GIS maps
limited her interpretations (Figure 2). Working together, von
Schwerin and Richards-Rissetto asked themselves: What are the real research
possibilities for 3D models? How can we create an online resource for researchers
of Maya architecture where they can compare and study geo-referenced 3D models and
attribute data? How can we perform quantitative and qualitative comparisons with
other Maya structures and analyze architecture in larger spatial and temporal
contexts?
To address these questions, the MayaArch3D Project developed a new computing pipeline
in order to build a prototype tool for an online, searchable repository – called QueryArch3D – that brings together GIS data, 3D models, and
virtual environments for teaching and research on ancient architecture and
landscapes. This pipeline uses PostgreSQL as spatial repository back-end and allows
for the import and export of standard GIS formats, as well as 3D models as
triangulated meshes via the common obj format. Like traditional
databases, this tool can curate, query, and compare 2D digital objects (such as
drawings, maps, diagrams, text, photographs, and videos). However, what is unique
and technologically cutting-edge is that QueryArch3D enables users to 1) integrate
and edit 2D and 3D data of multiple resolutions, 2) to
perform attribute and spatial queries of archaeological data,
and 3) to visualize, compare and analyze 3D buildings and
artifacts – all in a single online, navigable virtual reality
landscape. Developed in 2010 in collaboration with Fabio Remondino and Giorgio
Agugiaro at the Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK) in Trento, Italy, and Gabrio Girardi
at Graphitech, in Trento, Italy, the QueryArch3D tool stores both low resolution
models, high resolution reality-based, hybrid models and all ancillary attribute
data in an open source spatial database, and then makes them queryable via a virtual
reality environment that runs on the Unity 3 game engine. Currently the contents of
the digital resource include collections on ancient Copan (Figure 3). Overall, our
preliminary research results indicate the QueryArch3D tool is poised to offer a new
level of collaborative work in any field that works with 3D models, GIS, and large
data sets, because it allows researchers to bring 2D and 3D datasets from separate
projects into a single environment and work in real-time using the online query and
analysis capabilities.
This paper presents this new tool and the results of the beta-testing that was
carried out in fall 2011 with researchers, students, and educators in the
humanities. Beta testers unanimously were enthused about the tool, particularly at
having the ability to (1) navigate online through a virtual model of an ancient Maya
city, (2) access higher resolution models of objects, (3) query the archaeological
database via the model – and vice versa. Suggestions for improvement centered on
decreasing the initial download time, improving the user interface (changes to
navigation commands, adding a text search box), and adding a broader range of
spatial queries. Because the project is still in its initial
stages, the paper also summarizes current research problems, and the tasks to be
solved in the project’s next stage of development, in collaboration with the German
Archaeological Institute and the University of Heidelberg. The paper concludes with
a critical assessment of the possibilities that 3D Web GIS systems currently offer
scholars and educators in terms of organizing, searching, and visualizing data, and
identifying patterns over space and time.
a) Selected MayaArch3D Project Publications:
Agugiaro G., F. Remondino, G. Girardi, J. von Schwerin, H.
Richards-Rissetto, and R. de Amicis (2011). QueryArch3D: Querying and
visualising three-dimensional archaeological models in a web-based interface. In
Geoinformatics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech
Technical University, ISSN 1802-2669.
Remondino F., A. Gruen, J. von Schwerin, H. Eisenbeiss, A. Rizzi,
S.Girardi, M. Sauerbier, and H. Richards-Rissetto (2009). Multi-sensor
3D Documentation of the Maya Site of Copan. Proceedings of the
22nd CIPA
Symposium,
11-15 October, 2009, Kyoto, Japan (2009). http://cipa.icomos.org/KYOTO.html.
Richards-Rissetto, H. (2012). Studying Social Interaction at
the Ancient Maya Site of Copán, Honduras: A Least Cost Approach to
Configurational Analysis. In D. A. White and S. Surface-Evans (eds), Least Cost Analysis of Sociocultural Landscapes:
Archaeological Case Studies, Accepted by University of Utah Press,
January 2011.
von Schwerin, J. (2011). The Sacred Mountain in Social
Context: Design, History and Symbolism of Temple 22 at Copán, Honduras. Ancient Mesoamerica 22(2): 271-300.
von Schwerin, J., H. Richards-Rissetto, F. Remondino, G.
Agugiaro, M. Forte, and R. Maqueda (2011). The
MayaArch3D Project; Digital Technologies for Research in Maya
Archaeology. Final Performance Report and White Paper for NEH Digital
Humanities Level II Start- Up Grant.
b) Related Publications:
Barcelo, J. A., M. Forte, and D. Sanders D. (2000). Virtual Reality in Archaeology. BAR International Series 843,
Oxford.
Bodenhamer, D. J., J. Corrigan, and T. M. Harris (2010). The spatial humanities: GIS and the future of humanities
scholarship. Bloomington : Indiana UP.
Conolly, J., and M- Lake (2006). Geographical
Information Systems in archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Dear M., J. Ketchum, S. Luria, and D. Richardson (2011). GeoHumanities Art, History, Text at the Edge of Place.
New York: Routledge.
El-Hakim, S., J.-A. Beraldin, F. Remondino, M. Picard, L.
Cournoyer, and M. Baltsavias (2008). Using terrestrial laser scanning
and digital images for the 3D modelling of the Erechteion, Acropolis of Athens.
Proceedings of the DMACH Conference, Digital Media and its
Applications in Cultural Heritage. Amman, pp. 3-16.
Frischer, B., and A. Dakouri-Hild (2008). Beyond illustration: 2d and 3d digital technologies as tools for discover in
archaeology. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Llobera,
M. (2006). What you see is what you get?: Visualscapes, visual genesis and
hierarchy. In P. Daly and T. Evans (eds.), Digital Archaeology:
Bridging Method and Theory. New York, London: Routledge, Taylor and
Francis, pp. 148-167.
Manferdini, A. M., F. Remondino, S. Baldissini, M. Gaiani, and B.
Benedetti (2008). 3D modeling and semantic classification of
archaeological finds for management and visualization in 3D archaeological
databases. Proceedings of 14th Int. Conference on Virtual
Systems and MultiMedia (VSMM 2008), pp. 221-228
Reindel, M., and G. A. Wagner, eds. (2009).
New Technologies for Archaeology: Multidisciplinary Investigations in Palpa and
Nasca, Peru. Natural Science in Archaeology. Heidelberg/Berlin.
Remondino, F., S. El-Hakim, S. Girardi, A. Rizzi, B. Benedetti,
and L. Gonzo (2009). 3D Virtual reconstruction and visualization of
complex architectures-The 3D-ARCH project. IAPRS&SIS
Vol.38(5/W1)
Robertson, E., J. Seibert, D. Fernandez,
and M. Zender, eds. (2006). Space and Spatial Analysis in
Archaeology. University of New Mexico and University of Calgary Press:
Albuquerque and Calgary.