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ISPRS joint Meeting of WG VI/3 and WG IV/3 
Bridging the Gap“, Ljubljana 2-5 February 2000 
INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION FOR DOCUMENTATION AND MONITORING OF THE CULTURAL HERITAGE 
Peter Waldhäusl, Vienna, Austria 
President of CIPA 
pw@ ¡pf.tuwien.ac.at 
KEY WORDS: Cultural Heritage, Documentation, Monitoring, Heritage Information Systems, Photography, 
Photogrammetry, Archaeology, Cultural Landscapes. 
ABSTRACT 
CIPA's mission is documentation of the Cultural Heritage, the necessary technology for data collection and monitoring, 
data control and quality management, data administration, data archiving, data maintenance; data retrieval, data use, 
data comparison and analysis of data changes. In this area a great number of gaps are located which have to be 
bridged. The method of bridging is international and inter-professional co-operation. CIPA, the ICOMOS & ISPRS 
Committee on the Documentation of the Cultural Heritage, is presented with its 10 Working Groups. The international 
activities of ISPRS and ICOMOS are well received and bridge gaps for a better future of the coming generations. 
KURZFASSUNG 
CIPA's Aufgabe ist die Dokumentation des Kulturellen Erbes, die notwendige Technologie für die Datenerfassung und für 
deren regelmäßige Wiederholung, Datenkontrolle und Qualitätsmanagement, Datenverwaltung, Archivierung, für die 
Daten-nachführung, Datenbereitstellung, Datenverwendung, Datenvergleich und Analyse von Veränderungen. Im 
Bereich dieser Arbeitsaufgaben werden eine Anzahl von Lücken geortet, die überbrückt werden sollten. Die Methode 
dafür ist internationale und interprofessionelle Zusammenarbeit. CIPA, das ICOMOS-ISPRS Komitee für die 
Dokumentation des kulturellen Erbes, wird mit seinen zehn Arbeitsgruppen vorgestellt. Die internationalen Aktivitäten 
von ICOMOS und ISPRS werden gut an-genommen. Sie helfen, die Lücken zu überbrücken. Es sind Aktivitäten für eine 
bessere Zukunft kommender Generationen. 
1. CULTURAL HERITAGE reconstruction: Documentation as a part of cultural (and 
Cultural Heritage is considered everything worth to be 
handed over from generation to generation, worth to be 
mentioned in a testament. Cultural Heritage can be 
immobile or mobile. Cultural Heritage can be of 
importance for some subjective or objective reason, can 
be of value for just one family, for a group of people, for a 
nation or for mankind as a whole. The importance can be 
based on the fact, that it is somehow unique, special, 
interesting, beautiful, or just valuable. For many practical 
reasons it is advisable to register and document every 
thing: in order to manage systematically its maintenance 
and development, or just to prove ownership or the state 
in case of loss, crime, accident or catastrophe, for the 
insurance company or for the subdivision among heirs, 
etc. If we need documents for some reason and do not 
have them, we consider it a gap. 
2. DOCUMENTATION 
Documentation of an object means a collection of 
descriptions, drawings, and images in such a form that the 
purpose of documentation is fulfilled: At any time now or 
later we can retrieve the most important information about 
the object from text-, drawing- or image- or also sound 
documents. The object itself is therefore not any more 
necessary. In case of loss, damage or destruction the 
documentation could serve as a basis for repair or 
financial) civil protection. Documents are expected to be 
true. Photographic images are such documents. But the 
image alone is not enough. Photographic documentation 
should be accompanied by some written information, e.g. 
date of photography, the inner orientation parameters, 
some pass-information etc. Completeness is the next 
requirement. For 3D we need stereo-partners. For block- 
adjustment and restitution of a complete and complex 
object we need overlapping images. For colour 
documentation we need a colour proof and proper 
illumination. As an intermediate summary we find that 
proper documentation photography, whether analogue or 
digital, whether static or film or video, needs some more 
know how, which must be available for conservationists. 
Otherwise we have a gap. 
3. MONITORING 
Monitoring means regularly repeated documentation. The 
reason for monitoring is status-control, change detection 
and change analysis in time, before it is too late or too 
expensive. Any documentation has to be up to date so 
that it can be used for proper decisions. The memory of 
man is very poor as much as details are concerned, 
specially when we see the object very often. Slow decay 
we recognise too late, slow or piecewise changes we 
cannot remember properly. We need the assistance of 
image documents which we can compare. Easily