Virtual research environment for the management and the visualization of complex archaeological sites.

Virtual Research Environments are tools and technologies to enhance and support research. These online environments are dedicated to support collaboration whether in the management of a research activity, the discovery, analysis and curation of data or information, or in the communication and dissemination of research outputs. They are applicable to numerous domains, and they are particularly useful for Cultural Heritage purposes. Aim of this paper is to present a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for archaeology and architecture. An Information System has been produced, which is based on open source software modules and works on the Internet. It permits to avoid users to be software driven and it makes possible for different persons to register and consult data from different places. The system will then improve the sharing of research and data between archaeologists working on dissimilar sites, and also between these professionals and the general public for the dissemination of the knowledge about the site. Our VRE has diverse objectives: digital archiving of archaeological and architectural datasets, data inquiry through different interfaces notably clickable plans and 3D models, attractive visualization and communication of information. The Information System includes possibilities of thematic and interactive treatments. The thematic treatments are done from the history and the visit of the archaeological site, from diverse search engines and from views of the records. The interactive treatments are carried out on plans and on 3D models that are used as interactive interfaces to access the documents and objects. It allows doing an exploratory visit of the site and an inquiry of all the documents that have been gathered about it, according to the interests of each visitor. The tool proposed is usable for every kind of archaeological site, and allows managing and visualizing very diverse types of data. Our first experimentations and tests have been done on sites managed by the Service of the National Sites and Monuments of Luxembourg: the medieval castle of Vianden and the gallo-roman villa of Echternach. In the system, data with metadata chosen by the expert are recorded in the XML format (standard of the W3C) and automatically integrated in a MySQL database. Afterwards, the registered information is made accessible through different interfaces, particularly interactive 2D and 3D representations, which permit queries at spatial and temporal levels. These clickable representations are 2D images or vectors created in SVG, and 3D models produced in VRML and X3D, for a full compliance with the W3C recommendations. The 3D models are principally historical models, which have been initially created from multiple data sources like texts, old paper plans, drawings, sections, etc., coming from the excavation work of the archaeologists. At the beginning they were in a particular modeler format. They have been exported in VRML and X3D afterwards, and then made interactive thanks to anchor processes. It is now possible to click on these models to access all the data from which they have been produced. In addition, the user of the system can generate his own 3D models and composition plans thanks to multi-criteria data entry forms. He has the choice to select for example one or several places and one or several historical phases, for which he wants to generate ”on the fly” the 3D model to see the historical evolutions of the site. Approximately the same process is available to create synthesis 2D plans or photo-montage allowing for instance to superimpose the architectural arrangement of the castle today with its former configurations. The proposed VRE offers also different possibilities to improve the visualization of archaeological and architectural data, which have sometimes been gathered for a long time, often without computerized means. This information is then highlighted in a new way, rather than being forgotten in a drawer with any means of further exploitations.