IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ARCHITECTONIC GIS ON A BRICKWORK FARMHOUSE 
J.L. Lerma, S. Navarro, M. Cabrelles, C. Portalés 
Dept. Ing. Cartográfica, Geodesia y Fotogrametría. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. C° de Vera, s/n. Edificio 7i. 
46022 Valencia, Spain-jllerma@cgf.upv.es, sannata@topo.upv.es, micablo@topo.upv.es, criporri@upvnet.upv.es 
KEYWORDS: Documentation, Cultural Heritage, Architecture, GIS, Photogrammetry, Thermal imagery, Data Management, 
Visualization 
ABSTRACT: 
Management of Cultural Heritage for restoration purposes is a challenge when different surveys are carried out on a multidisciplinary 
team. This paper deals the implementation of an archiving and managing system for architectural related-work, specifically 
rehabilitation. All the data collected and delivered by technicians and experts such as drawings, reports, pictures and rectified 
imagery concerning the restoration were input into an architectural information system. The architectural information system is a 
Geographic Information System (GIS) particularized for architectural analyses and management. It has been implemented in such a 
way that it is possible to link alphanumeric data with building maps independently of its spatial attitude and level. The challenges for 
overcoming a fully 3D documentation project into a 2D management system are addressed. Furthermore, the conceptualization of a 
specific architectonic management system based on multi-source information is highlighted. Finally, the benefits of developing a 
management system for architectural surveys and restorations dealing with multidisciplinary teams are also discussed. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The more number of multidisciplinary personnel involved in 
conservation and restoration projects, the more difficult and 
challenging is the efficient management of the data for 
appropriate decision-making purposes. Additionally, longer 
time is needed in order to assemble efficiently the multi-source 
input data, unless an up-to-date information management 
system is used by all the multidisciplinary team for storing, 
processing, analysing and plotting. 
For many years, GIS has been successfully used to archive, 
handle, manage, analyse and plot both alphanumeric and 
graphic data in different fields, such as urban planning, 
cartography, logistics, land and networks management, etcetera. 
It is possible to find lots of information related with GIS 
projects, even in the field of cultural heritage for spatio- 
temporal analysis and visualization (Hosse and Schilcher, 2003), 
simple management systems on rock art sites (Ogleby et al., 
2003), research, conservation and valorization on the Internet 
using open source technology (Agosto et al., 2003), or 
enhancement and systematic reconstructions of archaeological 
sites (Borgia, 2007). 
This paper shows an implementation of an architectonic GIS on 
a typical two-storey brickwork country house in Valencia 
(Figure 1). In the near future, this building is going to be 
rehabilitated for university facilities. The GIS is conceived in 
order to organize, analyse and share, on the one hand, 
topographic surveys, on the other, architectural information. 
Indeed, comprehensive surveys and analyses have been carried 
out by architects and engineers inside and outside the farmhouse, 
among them, measuring surveys with a total station, 
photogrammetry and thermography approaches (Lerma et al 
2007), georadar, material and structural analyses, deterioration 
studies and analytical inspections. 
All data regarding the graphic and thematic documentation and 
architectural prior studies about materials, alterations and 
damages, styles, and construction knowledge for rehabilitation 
have been integrated in a GIS. It has been designed as an 
architectonic information system focused on managing 
comprehensive architectural documentation projects. Part of its 
functionality is examined herein. 
Figure 1. Country house placed a few meters away the boundary 
of the Polytechnic University of Valencia 
2. MAIN REQUIREMENTS 
In architectural projects dealing with country houses and/or 
farmhouses object semantics are as relevant as the actual 
geometry. Therefore, it is mandatory to have a strong flexibility 
for defining and assigning thematic information, on the one 
hand, to individual geometric objects such as windows, doors, 
rooms and furniture, and, on the other hand, to entire geometric 
objects such as facades, floors and roofs. 
Besides, there is a need to visualize most of the objects of the 
GIS system by means of rich and colourful texture coming from 
hand-held digital cameras. These images will eventually be used 
for rectification purposes (Lerma and Elwazani, 2006), 
orthorectification, 3D modelling, inventories and, last but not 
least, filling in reports.