CIP A 2003 XIX th International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey 
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65 large format photographs constitutes the final 
product of the Project. All of them can be found at the 
US Library of Congress, HABS/HAER/HALS 
Division of the NPS, the National Archives -NARA, 
the Panama Canal Museum in Tampa, Florida as in 
Panama at the Authority of the Panama Canal offices 
and at the new Miraflores Visitors Center. 
The Database 
A new Isthmian Canal Commission database will run 
on File Maker Pro software, through the 
HABS/HAER/HALS Information System. Three 
categories were set up to identify the ICC drawings: 
1. The drawings registered in the Log 
Book 
2. The drawings not registered in the 
Log Book, but under the name of 
the ICC 
3. The drawings done by contractors 
The web interface with the database of 
HABS/HAER/HALS, the US National Archives and 
the Authority of the Panama Canal, will allow users to 
browse more than 6,500 entries regarding the Panama 
Canal by subject, location and general keyword 
searches; digital images from the available scanned 
and interpretive drawings, large format photographs 
and written historical and descriptive data from the 
project will also be attached at agreed locations. 
The Drawings 
A total of 75 drawings were produced, on 24”x36” 
Mylar: 
• Raster drawings/ in order to holistically 
illustrate the history of the Panama Canal, 
graphic drawings were done under the 
HAER format. 
• Vector drawings/ 
*3-D: scanned drawings were pulled from 
the database and CAD drawings were 
created through AutoCAD, version 2002, 
scaling the “object” 1:1. A library was built 
of the masonry and machinery of the lock, 
all drawn and edited to an agreed level of 
detail. A three-dimension illustration was 
the final result, which in turn was used for 
animation -museographic purposes. 
*2-D: two-dimension final drawings 
illustrate the Canal using feet and inches. 
Although the drawings are done in both 
Spanish and English on the same sheet, it 
was decided to do the drawing itself in the 
English measurement since it was the 
system used for its construction. 
Nevertheless, both imperial and metric data 
will be provided on the drawing sheets, 
besides a graphic scale. 
• Free-hand drawing/ was used as needed to 
fill in areas not otherwise digitally recorded. 
To end this presentation, I would like to summarize in 
three statements what I believe were the most relevant 
achievements of the Project: 
1. The success of the alliance between the tripartite 
organization. The team was able to build upon 
different identities, ethnic differences and with the 
multiple and varied conditions that were part of 
working abroad, especially when looking at this 
Project from the political scope of the recently 
reverted Canal. In doing so we become advocates of 
the tripartite relationship that surely contributed to a 
worldly documentation’s interest, involving these two 
countries in a new partnership through the ICOMOS 
committees. 
2. Without any question, the Documentation Project 
planted a seed: it projected historic preservation 
concerns into interdisciplinary and inter-institutional 
Panamanian programs, which eventually will spring 
forth at their own timing, under the pressures from 
new and old participants. 
3. And finally, the real impact: assuring to future 
generations the comprehension of the design and 
operation of the Canal, promoting the permanence 
of its memory through information. 
June 2003