NFDI4ING contributed to a one-day workshop of IDOVIR, the Infrastructure for Documentation of Virtual Reconstructions in Darmstadt. The workshop was attended by 30 high-ranking representatives from research institutions, heritage authorities, and digital production.
IDOVIR is a project that allows users to document individual reconstruction decisions. These include choices about building components or construction phases. Each decision is linked, through reasoning, to its underlying sources, such as plans, images, texts, or architectural findings. This makes the plausibility or uncertainty of a reconstruction transparent. IDOVIR also provides comprehensive web-based tools for working with sources during the reconstruction process. These tools support decision-making, documentation, and collaboration.
IDOVIR developed a controlled vocabulary that enables the systematic description of architectural sources in terms of their informational content, for example, whether a representation is to scale, whether a plan includes a north arrow, or from which planning phase a drawing originates. This vocabulary is of interest beyond the specific application of IDOVIR in any context where the documentation of existing buildings needs to be recorded. The workshop in Darmstadt provided an opportunity to familiarise with the structure and content of the vocabulary and to discuss it from various scientific perspectives. For instance, representatives from the German and the Austrian Archaeological Institutes advocated for the ability to directly describe findings on the building itself. Representatives from art history highlighted the importance of the vocabulary for searching and automatically classifying sources in image archives. The workshop issued a call for comments on the published vocabulary proposal and suggestions for additions.
We invite all interested in research on planning and construction processes related to existing buildings to contribute to the further development of the vocabulary.
Andreas Noback