Integration of Historical Sources, HGIS and HBIM for Cultural Heritage Sites: The Digital Reconstruction of the Islands in the Venice Lagoon

Starting from the 16th century, when the city of Venice began to systematically structure its water territory, the over sixty islands that shape the lagoon became an integral and fundamental component of its urban space. Today, much of this heritage site has disappeared or, in some cases, it is in a state of complete abandonment. This circumstance prevents citizens or visitors from fully grasping the history and major events that characterised the lagoon complex past as well as the reasons that led to its current decline. Venice’s Nissology (VeNiss) is a project that aims at representing this peculiar urban context through an interactive 3D web map in which users can virtually explore the waterbound settlements and their transformations over time, from the sixteenth century onwards. The development of this online geospatial platform involves an articulated methodological process that includes an heterogeneous group of scholars, such as architectural and art historians, as well as experts in digital surveying, GIS (Geographic Information System) and BIM (Building Information Modelling). Building on the analysis of historical documents – namely maps, iconographic sources, and textual documents – together with survey data already existing or newly obtained through measurement campaigns, the project aims to create interoperable bi- and three-dimensional digital models of thirty islands over the centuries, thus allowing the visualisation of their urban and architectural transformations in relation to relevant historical information. 3D models are created through a process of data re-elaboration and interpretation aimed at vectorialising the considerable and varied amount of existing iconographic sources and visualising the relationships between them. The ultimate goal of the project is to implement these virtual models in a geospatial structure that can ensure users a conscious understanding of the events that involved these places and the transformations that have determined their current configuration.