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Forma Romae: the information system for the city of Rome’s historical, archaeological, monumental, and environmental heritage
Forma Romae: the information system for the city of Rome’s historical, archaeological, monumental, and environmental heritage
Use Case
At the forefront of history for three millennia, the city of Rome possesses an extremely vast wealth of information on its cultural heritage. Yet knowledge of the city is made challenging due not only to the shear breadth of the subject matter, but also the fact that the information is stored on multiple and uncoordinated databases. Even when it comes to the same piece of cultural heritage, the available information is gathered in different areas and presented from different perspectives depending on who benefits from it (who oversees, restores, promotes or wants to understand it).
Duplicating or streamlining the data in a new and distinct database would have made it more complicated to manage, with the risk that the wealth and authenticity of the information would be diminished.
Thus, it became necessary to take an entirely new approach to this fragmentation of information, a recurring reality when it comes to the nation’s cultural heritage. Using artificial intelligence techniques and the “data lake” concept, an information system is being created which guarantees greater consistency and usability of the data and a new virtual information framework, with benefits at every level.
Residents, Tourists, and Tourism Operators
who will have a dynamic and educational IT tool at their disposal
Professionals, Students, and Academics
who will have rapid access to a complete, thorough, and certified pool of knowledge
Public Administration
which will benefit from a participatory information system
Capitoline Superintendence
which will oversee a homogeneous system that makes it possible to optimize the study, inspection, monitoring, and management timeframes for the cultural heritage that it must safeguard
Metropolitan Area of Rome
which will be able to access and join the project
A completely new tool to explore places
The Forma Romae Project aims to provide residents and academics with a new tool that guides them in learning about and taking advantage of the city’s immense historical, archaeological, monumental, and environmental heritage, starting from a cartographic perspective.
Optimizing internal processes for safeguarding, preserving, and enhancing municipal property, thus reducing costs and timeframes
Developing new outward communications strategies
Offering a better and more accessible range of cultural opportunities to professional residents and economic operators
Constantly updated, Forma Romae is an information system that geographically integrates the numerous digital databases already in existence in order to disseminate knowledge about Capitoline cultural heritage.
The project is curated and developed by the Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage and financed with EU funds from the Metropolitan Cities National Operational Program (PON Metro).
In close collaboration with the Superintendency, AlmavivA has contributed in particular to the creation of the Service Catalog’s gamification modules and the digitalization of the maps present in the portal.
With Forma Romae
- Direct access to information on local cultural heritage and data regarding the city’s architectural and urban transformations; the information (accessible with various levels of confidentiality and detail) will allow users to immediately evaluate the pre-existing archaeological features in the substratum of a given area, the history of a region or of a building’s construction phases, existing underground caves and their level of danger, the state of preservation of a monument, etc.
- Direct examination of the diachronic levels of the city’s vector maps, from the marble Forma Urbis Romae (the third century AD map of Rome), to the subsequent cartography (Alessandrian cadastre, maps of Rome, urban and suburban Gregorian cadastre, IGM), all the way to the current digital maps and associated scientific and descriptive data sheets accompanied by images
- Direct consultation of the historical documentation present in the depths of the Capitoline and National Archives, digitalized, connected, and “geographically” organized to fully safeguard the most precious or perishable materials
- Production of open data and open geodata sets
- Specific maps, thematic and otherwise, will allow visitors to enjoy a privileged view of the city’s fascinating past, as well as appreciate aspects that are less familiar to the general public, such as impressive examples of industrial archeology and historical urban development plans dating back to 1883
- Forums, knowledge pills, trivia, prizes, etc.: thanks to techniques borrowed from game design, users are offered a recreational approach to topics not usually associated with play, encouraging greater involvement of that portion of the general public not made up of individuals who work in the sector.
Next step
The creation of an ecosystem that makes immersive use of Capitoline cultural heritage possible is the next step in this project, which aims to be a key component in the promotion of tourism in the Region.
By associating digital content, represented by 3D models, with the cataloged cultural heritage and maps, virtual reality will allow tourists to have an entirely new experience in this post-pandemic “Next Normal” era. Virtual exhibits and itineraries are two of the first elements of personalized digital tourism to be proposed. This is the direction in which the Forma Romae project will continue to evolve.
