Jennifer von Schwerin

Show Me the Data!: Structuring Archaeological Data to Deliver Interactive, Transparent 3D Reconstructions in a 3D WebGIS

Creating 3D reconstructions is a common approach today in archaeology and cultural heritage. The problem is that 3D models in online virtual research environments may tempt users to believe them as historical truth. What must be done to enable the public to view a 3D reconstruction as a hypothesis and have access to the supporting data? This paper explains – via use-case examples from the ancient Maya city of Copan, Honduras – a procedure for structuring heterogeneous data to enable interactive, web-based access to 3D reconstructions of cultural heritage. A prototype 3D WebGIS system was built that can store, manage, and visualize 3D models and integrates these with georeferenced archaeological data. An ontology was created, a segmentation pipeline was developed, and databases and services were designed to structure and integrate the data in the 3D WebGIS. Results include two interactive 3D reconstructions: a city model and a temple model – these demonstrate how proper data structuring can deliver transparent models for archaeological argumentation.