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INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR MONITORING AND
DOCUMENTING WORLD HERITAGE - THE SILK ROADS CHRIS
O. Vileikis*^ E. Serruys®, B. Dumont®, K. Van Balen*, M. Santana Quintero’, P. De Macyer®, V.Tigny°
Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven),
Kasteelpark Arenberg 1 - B 2431, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
ona.vileikis@asro.kuleuven.be
? Ghent University, Department of Geography, Krijgslaan 281, S8 B-9000 Gent, Belgium
*GIM nv, Researchpark Haasrode 1505, Interleuvenlaan 5, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
? Carleton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1028 Colonel By drive, Ottawa, Canada
KEY WORDS: Digital Documentation, Information Management Systems, Monitoring, World Heritage, Silk Roads
ABSTRACT:
This paper discusses the application of Information Management Systems (IMS) for documenting and monitoring World Heritage
(WH) properties. The application of IMS in WH can support all stakeholders involved in conservation, and management of cultural
heritage by more easily inventorying, mining and exchanging information from multiple sources based on international standards.
Moreover, IMS could assist in detecting damages and preparing management strategies to mitigate risks, and slowing down the
deterioration of the integrity of WH properties. The case study of the Silk Roads Cultural Heritage Resource Information System
(CHRIS), a Belgian Federal Science Policy Office funded project, illustrates the capabilities of IMS in the context of the nomination
of the Central Asian Silk Roads on the WH List. This multi-lingual, web-based IMS will act as a collaborative platform allowing for
the completion of improved transnational nomination dossiers and subsequent monitoring activities with all necessary baseline
information to easily verify consistency and quality of the proposal. The Silk Roads CHRIS Geospatial Content Management
System uses open source technologies and allows to georeference data from different scales and sources including data from field
recording methods and combine it with historical and heritage features documented through various means such as textual
descriptions, documents, photographs, 3D models or videos. Moreover, tailored maps can also be generated by overlaying a
selection of available layers and then be exported to support the nomination dossier. Finally, by using this innovative information
and decision support system, the State Parties and other interested stakeholders will have access to a complete nomination dossier
and could therefore respond more effectively to hazards and disaster phenomena.
1. INTRODUCTION including 111 stilt houses located within six State Parties.
Similar to these, other serial transnational nominations are
In the context of an increase in World Heritage (WH) being prepared such as the Qhapaq Nan in South America, the
nominations and wide-spread risks to cultural heritage, the Viking Age Monuments and Sites, or the Silk Roads. This
application of Information Management Systems (IMS) provide paper will focus on the latter one.
a solution to assist State Parties, site managers and other 1000
stakeholders involved in conservation, management, and 900 enm
monitoring of cultural heritage by more easily inventorying, ss e
mining, sharing and exchanging information from multiple Ne
sources based on international standards. Moreover, IMS aid in 500 rt^
the prevention and detection of damages as well as in the 400
preparation of management strategies to mitigate risks, and
decelerate the deterioration of the integrity of WH properties.
Number of Properties
As depicted in Figure 1, the number of inscribed WH properties 1374 1981 i984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1909 3002 2005 2008 3011
is increasing every year. For instance, in the last decade, from Yoar
2000 to 2011, 246 new properties were inscribed on the List.
Up to date, a total of 725 cultural, 183 natural and 28 mixed Figure 1: Cumulative of total properties inscribed on the World
WH properties exist. However, these figures do not show the Heritage List. Data source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre
actual number of sites or monuments protected by the 1972 (WHC), http://whe.unesco.org/en/list
World Heritage Convention. Different types of nominations
such as e.g. heritage routes include several component parts
inscribed as one property. For example, in 2010 the cultural
route Camino Real de Tierra Adentro in Mexico was inscribed
under one property containing 60 component parts connected
by the Royal Inland Road. Other examples of serial inscriptions
are the Australian Convicts Sites in 2010 with 11 component
parts, or the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps in 2011
Total properties instr bed
After more than seven years of workshops and meetings among
the State Parties involved in the Silk Roads WH nomination,
initially, in Central Asia the Republics of Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and
Turkmenistan, and the People’s Republic of China, the
representatives of the 12 State Parties agreed during the
Ashgabat meeting in 2010 on adopting the concept of corridors
Corresponding author.
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