CIP A 2003 XIX"' International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey 
The line information is complemented by the existing map in 
formation (map 1:100,000) and by orthophotos from aerial 
photographs in the scale 1:20,000 and 1:7,000. In this way, we 
obtain a continuous presentation of the region without the ne 
cessity of a complete line mapping. 
4.2 Thematic Information 
The geometric information is complemented by the thematic 
information which is stored in a relational database. This con 
cerns information referring to the ksar as a whole such as its 
political status, its name, its topographic position, as well as 
specific folklore features and handcraft activities of the inhabi 
tants. The information concerning infrastructure, water supply 
and sewage, electricity supply and many others also refer to the 
whole ksar. The state of the buildings and the usage and the 
social status of the inhabitants are registered with respect to the 
living sectors; an attempt is also made to capture socio-eco 
nomic information. Finally, a detailed building description is 
done for the individual buildings surveyed. 
4.3 Information Survey 
The sketched data catalogue requires an intensive field survey 
which is performed in two phases. In the first phase, one pro 
ceeds to reconnaissance of the general state of the ksar which 
might require about an hour. One then decides whether a de 
tailed survey is necessary. The currently available aerial photo 
graphs of 1977 and 1987 allow to recognize the respective vil 
lages with all their elements. For the detailed surveys, ortho 
photos are used as a basis on which the characteristic elements 
are sketched out and one attempts to gather the attributive ele 
ments by questioning inhabitants. Furthermore, there are vari 
ous buildings surveyed in a detailed manner. This activity re 
quires 2-4 hours/ksar for a group of 3-5 persons and is executed 
by the CERKAS under its own responsibility. 
4.4 Photographic Documentation 
Beside maps, plans and descriptive elements, photographic 
images are of great importance for the documentation of archi 
tectural monuments. The CERKAS employs a professional 
photographer who systematically documents the ksour. Archi 
tect Hans Hostettler, has suggested adopting a systematic ap 
proach similar to a tour through the village. In a first phase, one 
should capture the exterior view of the village with its fortifica 
tions and the entrances. Then follows the documentation of the 
entrance itself and the interior views of the village, meaning the 
squares and streets and finally the sacred buildings and the 
dwellings. For these, one should proceed in a similar way and 
for example the mosques should be captured first by the façade, 
followed by the entrance, the vestibule, the cleaning rooms and 
finally the prayer room. The images were initially taken on both 
black-and-white and color in, while we prefer direct digital 
image recording. 
5. PROCESSING AND PRESENTING 
THE INFORMATION 
One quickly recognizes that in this way an extensive documen 
tation of the historic monuments of the South of Morocco will 
be elaborated. The CERKAS is equipped with the necessary 
computer facilities in order to store the information and to 
process it in an information system. However, the information 
processing requires considerable expertise and also a certain 
amount of time if complex questioning procedures are neces 
sary. The information as a whole might require about 50-100 
Gbytes or even more. These are not good conditions to enable 
general access to the information and to provide a base for the 
presentation of the monuments and various possibilities for 
analyses with respect to a new vitalization. It is understood that 
there are plans to publish a summary in the form of a book. 
This is however only possible when the work is finalized and 
will be limited to a selection of documents. In order to already 
obtain a document which can be easily circulated, the plan is to 
continuously update a CD-Rom on which the essential infor 
mation will be summarized and which will also enable interac 
tive queries. This interactive working mode will be made possi 
ble by building up an image database and a slide panorama and 
by incorporating webmapping facilities. It is understood that 
the most current requirements regarding data analysis have to 
be anticipated and it will be necessary to elaborate corre 
sponding summary maps. These presentations are comple 
mented by various descriptions. 
5.1 Presentation of Synthesis of the Ksour 
The results of the terrain survey take the form of plain signature 
maps of the ksour with indications concerning the state of the 
buildings (good, requires renovation, or ruins) and their usage 
(inhabited, other usage, or abandoned). Such maps supply the 
desired information but do not allow any additional analysis to 
determine which types of buildings are still inhabited. This 
information is obtainable by the orthophotos, but the direct 
relation is difficult to establish. On the other side, superimposi 
tion of orthophotos with surface symbols leads to maps which 
are difficult to read. A solution for this problem is the presenta 
tion of the orthophotos in pseudo-colors; in this case, the col 
oring corresponds to the above-chosen criteria. A critical analy 
sis of the coloring shows however that there are only a few 
colors available and they should suggest in some way or the 
other the effective usage : red = ruins, brown = habited, green = 
sacred building etc. (cf. Fig. 1). In order to avoid exceeding an 
A4-format, meaning the full printed page, it is advisable to 
choose a scale of 1:2,000 for the presentation of the villages 
with their surroundings. The villages themselves might only 
require a scale of 1:1,000. Enlargements are necessary if the 
plot of the building should be presented (cf. Fig. 3). 
Fig. 3. Enlarged orthophoto with the plot of the mosque 
superimposed 
5.2 Overview Presentations 
The above-described presentations allow an analysis of the 
individual ksour. However, it is difficult to establish a relation 
to their surroundings and their mutual relations. To fulfill this 
objective, smaller scales such as 1:50,000 or even less are nec