Mapping the Via Appia
The use of 3D GIS in archaeology is not yet widespread or well documented. Indeed, 3D GIS in general is still very much in development, challenging the Mapping the Via Appia project to be progressive and innovative. The project has the ambition to establish its own archaeological 3D GIS workflow, taking on an active role in bringing together different parties and disciplines involved in the technological development of 3D GIS, and in transferring the best of their techniques to the archaeological purpose: Mapping.
The Mapping the Via Appia project is an ambitious NWO-supported archaeological project by the Radboud University Nijmegen , VU University Amsterdam (SPINlab and IGBA), and the Royal Netherlands Institute Rome (KNIR) . At the invitation of the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma, the archaeological service of Rome, the project investigates the fifth and sixth miles of the Via Appia and her hinterland.
The project aims at a thorough inventory and analysis of the Roman interventions in their suburban landscape.1 The investigation focuses on a section of two kilometres that covers parts of the fifth and sixth miles of the Via Appia, supplemented with a research area that covers the hinterland as far as nearly one kilometre northeast and about 2,5 kilometres southwest of the road.2 In order to gain insight into the spatial development and impact in different peri-ods of the Via Appia itself, the surrounding monuments, and the outlying areas, the project consists of several re-search components: inventory of aboveground archaeological objects (architectural ruins); geophysical prospection and remote sensing; excavations; field surveys; and study of historical sources.
The 3D GIS part of Mapping the Via Appia is taken on by SPINlab, the Spatial Information Laboratory of the VU University Amsterdam. On the 19th of April a Mini Conference on 3D GIS for Mapping the Via Appia was organized. Presentations can be downloaded below.
For more information about this project see the following presentation by Maurice de Kleijn https://youtu.be/REgbnO4MdvQ
Please contact Maurice de Kleijn for more information.