Cultural heritage all around the world is in danger. Natural disasters, armed warfares, ideological radicalism, and global financial crisis threaten cultural landscapes and patrimonial goods in many places around the world. PaisArque wants to develop a pilot project to protect and preserve the cultural heritage (understood as a patrimonial good of all citizens), from a pioneering concept of virtual experiences, with no limits, and accessible to all society. The PaisArque project wants to consolidate an innovative research agenda in archeology and 3D cultural heritage, advancing in preserving threatened heritage from four simple objectives:

 a) Developing pioneer, innovative and profitable (low cost) approaches for  3D information capture with multidimensional data, such as satellite or drone high-quality images (including time series analysis), digital photogrammetry, and other computer photography techniques.

 b) Developing more robust 3D models of movable and immovable heritage from data captured with distance sensors and 3D point clouds-stored sensors, which will be included in interactive and collaborative apps for professional and non-professional users.

 c) Developing free applications for mobile devices to access, experiment, and enjoy the virtual heritage, in order to promote knowledge about cultural heritage and increase sensitivity to the risks that threaten it.

 d) Expanding and strengthening the role of Spanish and European institutions in the creation, dissemination and consumption of 3D models for the virtual preservation of threatened cultural heritage (e.g. areas of conflict, natural disasters) and/or located in remote areas.

 

The objectives of the project will be achieved through the development of two pilot study cases located in the south-east of Algeria and in Sudan by comparing and contrasting methodologies and applications with different spatial scales (from the cultural landscape to the archaeological site and from the site to the cultural object). The project will benefit from the collaboration between the Department of Humanities (M Madella, S Biagetti, C Lancelotti, and visiting researchers F Cecilia and S Markofsky) and the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (J Blat and A Evans) of The Pompeu Fabra University, each contributing complementary contributions in Terrestrial Observation techniques, 3D modeling, 3D graphics on the web, ludification, spatial analysis, archeology and heritage.