Research, Innovation, and Society Research UnitMOODO

MOdelli e Ontologie Digitali per il patrimoniO (Digital Models and Ontologies for Cultural Heritage)

Introduction

Assessing the quality of places using models and information systems capable of simulating real-life conditions and supporting the process of digital and ecological transition is one of the challenges and objectives set out in the UN’s 2030 Agenda. This challenge becomes even more complex when moving from theoretical and experimental models to the complexity of the real world and, in particular, to the specific characteristics of historic architecture, archaeological sites, urban centres and the landscape – places subject to restrictions and protection schemes. The research group is working to evaluate the most effective and innovative methods for developing digital replicas designed to link and promote databases on historical heritage. Such research encompasses numerous scientific disciplines centred on tangible and intangible heritage, ranging from the Science of Representation to project development in its various forms, to historical disciplines, geomatics and the humanities, which encompass aspects now grouped within the field of Digital Humanities. Digital models and prototypes become a testing ground for establishing systems for the understanding, promotion, management and development of heritage. A multidisciplinary research group aiming to initiate positive cycles of digitisation, by linking databases and working on census systems and digital archives, in order to develop mechanisms for applied research and digital experimentation laboratories focused on knowledge.  The research unit promotes initiatives aimed at defining pathways of knowledge, ranging from three-dimensional morphological documentation to historical, diagnostic and vulnerability analyses of cultural heritage, whilst developing three-dimensional databases and models that create digital twins of the real world, capable of providing guidelines for intervention and design. 3D models will be able to illustrate various ways of interacting with databases, fostering a ‘digital life’ that will involve a range of organisations, from land-use planning bodies to companies managing networked systems or commercial activities, the heritage associated with the tourism and hospitality sector, and everything that can be adapted to suit the needs of the heritage’s inhabitants – both real and digital – with particular reference to students of the relevant disciplines involved in the activities of research.

Objectives

The research group takes an interdisciplinary approach to issues relating to the documentation and three-dimensional modelling of cultural heritage, and to the application of artificial intelligence for visualisation, with a number of objectives, including:

• Research and Documentation: To conduct interdisciplinary research to document and study the history, architecture and culture associated with heritage.
• Heritage Digitisation: To create databases and accurate three-dimensional models of historic buildings and complexes, works of art, archaeological sites and landscapes, in order to develop tools to support the understanding, promotion and management of heritage.
• Preservation and Standardisation of Digital Data: Defining standards for the creation and sharing of three-dimensional models, metadata and information relating to historical heritage, and developing repository systems for data archiving.
• Monitoring and control of the built environment: development of information systems and models for monitoring and controlling the built environment using ‘digital twin’ (DT) approaches based on real-time measurement sensors (IoT) for risk analysis and the implementation of ‘smart’ infrastructure for the management of public services.
• Digital Access to and Engagement with Cultural Heritage: Creating immersive ‘Extended Reality’ (XR) experiences – including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) – to enable different types of users to explore and appreciate our historical heritage. The research unit focuses on the development of layered models that manage specific functionalities by replicating the complexity of the real world, where it is possible to devise methodological protocols for establishing levels, or ‘layers’, ranging from data acquisition and digital detection to the management of 3D graphics and user interaction, including the specific characteristics of the user’s movements, interaction with virtual objects or the detection of markers in the real world, thereby triggering communication systems that create interactive and dynamic digital experiences.
• Education and Communication: To create educational programmes to teach the public and students about historical heritage and the technologies used in its representation, fostering collaboration between experts in the disciplines involved in heritage representation, and promoting the use of three-dimensional models to develop heritage enhancement schemes, thereby contributing to the local economy and raising awareness of historical heritage.