IBR Inscriptions in their Spatial Context

Available
http://www.spatialhumanities.de/en/ibr/home.html

Description
The project (a collaboration between i3Mainz and the Academy of Science and Literature in Mainz) aims at combining 3D imaging (via laser scanning) and epigraphy, highlighting the importance of the spatial context in order to fully understand material culture. According to the website, "[t]he project's objective is a model of a spatial geometry linked to a network of relevant textual data (i.e. scientific texts). The research tool delevoped here facilitates new kinds of questions with respect to inscriptions, objects and space:

The objects' spatial location in the measured Euclidean space. This concerns all sizes and distances up to the size of single inscriptions and letters as well as the proximity and distance to other objects such as entrances, altars etc.

The visibility of inscriptions and works of art from a specific spatial vantage point.

The question of prior historical states of the examined space and changing positions of particular objects.

The relations between tombstones, paintings, altars and representations of benefactors with regard to space and content.

The spatial arrangement of distinct social or family groups in the context of tombs or benefactor altars.

The mechanisms between liturgical and other areas in the church's interior, for example questions of organization, of directions of actions or of the interaction of activities between presbytery and laity space; the question of compliance with or breaking up of particular tabooed areas; and the question of permeability of spatial barriers, for example in the case of a rood screen.

The significance of space with regard to ritual acts and performance.

The use of particular areas and entrances of the church and their significance for the visibility of objects.

Interdependencies of social change and utilisation of space."

Tools
The project also included the development of the Generic Viewer, a tool to annotate semantically geospatial data in point claud format.