E-HERITAGZì:_THE FUTURE FOR INTEGRATED APPLICATIONS IN 
CULTURAL HERITAGE 
J.A.Cannataci, ^ *, R. Rivenc, N.P.Zammit, C.Borg 3 , G.Guidi b , G.A.Beraldin 2 , 
a Institute for Conservation & Restoration Studies, Malta Centre for Restoration, Royal Naval Hospital, Bighi, Kalkara, 
Malta, (Joseph.cannataci@um.edu.mt) 
b Dept, of Electronic Engineering, University of Firenze, Florence, Italy, (g.guidi@ieee.org) 
KEY WORDS: e-heritage, documentation, imaging techniques, laser scanning, database, photogrammetry, project-management, 
Thealasermetry 
ABSTRACT 
A number of factors are combining to change the structure and contents of documentation of cultural heritage: 1) the exponential 
growth in data generated by imaging techniques makes it possible for a site or an artifact to be recorded at a resolution of over 16 
megapixels and at a density of several hundred million cloud points; 2) high-resolution imaging is becoming more affordable and/or 
available; 3) the economics and legal constraints of conservation practice are gradually pushing towards more stringent 
documentation standards; 4) improved communications infrastructure and mobile computing facilities are changing the way that 
data is recorded, processed, stored and - inevitably - used; 5) increasingly available computerized expert systems will be integrated 
into the very systems that conservators and documentation specialists carry around with them or access on a daily basis; 6) the 
advent of web-based systems will afford super-computer processing power and large-system database handling to the documentation 
specialist and the conservator in the field and permit greater flexibility for teleworking; 7) Computerised Project-based Management 
techniques will gradually spread from the realm of large institutions to SME’s and individual practitioners making digital image 
processing in architecture and archaeology more akin to the exchange of engineering drawings in automobile design industry. 8) 
The availability of cheap local or distributed processing power means that most of the above advantages will be present in both 
developed and developing countries. This paper explores, e-heritage as an integrated project which aims at providing a seamless yet 
structurally and inherently up-gradeable technological platform for -all activities within cultural heritage conservation and 
management 
1. FROM E-CULTURE AS CONTEXT TO 
OBJECTIVES 
1.1 From ‘e-culture’ to e-heritage’ 
1.1.1 “Anything, Anybody, Anytime, Anyhow, Anywhere” 
has been the all-encapsulating way of defining the objectives of 
proponents of “e-culture”. This notion attempts to break down 
the barriers previously posed by physical distance (and 
therefore geographic location) as well as time-zones or 
working-hour traditions in a way which promises to 
revolutionise work-patterns and methods of collaboration. The 
fact that computers and Internet access are rapidly becoming 
more accessible world-wide also points to a growing 
democratization inherent in a technology that makes so much 
more available to so many more members of society at such a 
lower cost. 
The last five years of the “e-anything” phenomenon, starting 
with ‘e-commerce’, transiting through ‘e-money’, rapidly 
building up ‘e-government’ and now culminating in ‘e-prints’, 
has unfortunately tended to devalue the “e-XXX” designation. 
Politicians and management gurus alike have tended to add the 
prefix “e-“ to most anything that catches their fancy with the 
result that already many members of the academic community 
(not to mention the general public) are losing sight of the 
original thrust of the e-revolution. Yet, while fast approaching 
cliché status, there is no better way of defining an all- 
encompassing approach than as “e-heritage”, especially if this 
seeks to implement the objectives of “anything, anybody, 
anytime, anyhow, anywhere” in the cultural heritage sector. 
1.2 Defining objectives for e-heritage 
1.2.1 The ultimate objectives of e-heritage are to enable 
students, conservators, documentation specialists, museum 
curators, heritage managers and members of the general public 
to plug in anywhere in Europe (indeed in the world) and study 
and work together in the cultural heritage sector which is 
striving to preserve the common heritage of mankind. E- 
heritage therefore achieves consistency in documentation at 
more cost-effective levels, it helps create new educational 
opportunities where these did not exist beforehand, it enables 
fast, easy and cost-effective collaboration in research projects 
and also resource-management on a scale previously 
unthinkable. It also enables the public and the research 
community to access a wealth of knowledge and information 
that has lain hitherto untapped. The objectives of e-heritage 
and integrated software and hardware systems in the heritage 
sector are understandably very closely linked to various forms 
of systems that exist or are being introduced for the purpose of 
documentation/management of heritage sites and artefacts. 
1.3 Technological change defines documentation standard 
* Corresponding author. Dr. Joseph A. Cannataci, ICRS, Malta Centre for Restoration, joseph.cannataci@um.edu.mt