CIPA 2003 XIX th International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey 
708 
The project that began as a rather narrow research project in 
1997 has continued and developed in several new directions. 
During the course of the site survey new techniques were 
used and constantly evaluated along with the more traditional 
surveying methods. As the GIS became increasingly 
integrated into the project, the goals of the survey were 
reassessed and the data collection methods were reformed 
both theoretically and practically. Among the final goals of 
the project was the presentation of the data in a GIS. In the 
future we anticipate that all data we have collected, 
including historical, geodetic and architectural data will be 
visualized in the 3D GIS application of the project. One of 
the major benefits of our decision to use a GIS in our 
project was that it forced team members from various 
disciplines to have more intensive interaction and, as a result, 
a better understanding of the diverse needs and research 
results reached by all members of the project. Finally, 
because the use of GIS for cultural heritage projects is 
relatively new in Turkey, a final but not insignificant benefit 
of our research has been that all project members have 
become more familiar with this new tool and the growing 
field of data management of heritage documentation. 
HERITAGE DOCUMENTATION 
Essential to the success of any cultural heritage project is 
effective communication among all members of the team 
concerning the various goals and types of data collected 
during the process of surveying and documentation. Of equal 
importance is the ease with which specialists in different 
fields can use and interpret the collected data. Increasingly, 
successful and qualified cultural heritage documentation and 
management projects require newly developed technology to 
collect and process data. Particularly as GIS becomes more 
commonly used for data storing, organization, retrieving and 
inquiry in cultural heritage projects, the ability of specialists 
from diverse disciplines to communicate research needs and 
results becomes more important for project effectiveness. 
Closing the “information gap“ is an essential aim. The 
members of a survey team who are involved in the research 
of historical data should be trained in a variety of disciplines: 
art and architectural history, cultural history, archaeology, 
geography, oral history, etc. Members of this team need to 
work closely with project members on generating the 
conceptual model, structure and database of the desired GIS 
application and ideally become familiar with GIS 
management so that the initial queries are drawing upon 
meaningful data. Ultimately, the dialogue between project 
members must be able to move beyond the project itself and 
present the results in an accessible and comprehensible 
format to the specialist and non-specialist audiences such as 
heritage administrators, experts, grant agencies, 
preservationists, and educators via a project web site 
transmitted over the world wide web . The main disciplines 
represented in our documentation and survey project for the 
Ottoman fortresses are art history, art and architectural 
history, archaeology, architecture and geodesy. Once the 
various methodologies of these different disciplines were 
coordinated and accommodated to the GIS , other more 
pragmatic aspects of the project must also be resolved. The 
availability of funds is of course an important element in the 
shaping of project goals and the additional “ start-up” cost in 
terms of time and resources for GIS implementation must be 
accounted for along with other project costs. The project’s 
aim, the survey system and the situation of the site directly 
shape the project organization. Inevitably the available 
financial resources, documentation expertise and the needs of 
the client, particularly if the project is conducted in the 
private sector, are all aspects which reform and reshape the 
aim and the expected research result. With the complex 
structure of documentation that a GIS provides, the feasibility 
of various inputs must be assessed, ideally at the beginning of 
the project. (Boehler, 2003; Architectural Heritage: 
Inventory and Documentation Methods in Europe, 1993) 
To date, heritage documentation projects in Turkey have 
been conducted by governments and academicians. Recently 
with the new systems and more sophisticated technology that 
has become available for surveys and architectural 
documentation, both the traditional survey process and the 
digital data collection are being evaluated. But it is not just 
the viability of the newer technology and data systems which 
needs to be assessed by scholars undertaking survey projects 
in Turkey. Additionally the methodological approach that is 
being used in cultural heritage documentation projects must 
also be debated and developed so that an appropriate 
approach can be used for projects and for the particular 
conditions prevalent in Turkey. 
In the “Seddiilbahir and Kumkale Survey and Architectural 
Documentation Project”, the methodology and the 
documentation approaches developed throughout the course 
of the project and as a result of trial and error 
experimentation. The three components of heritage 
documentation used in this project are explained below. 
HISTORICAL RESEARCH 
In any documentation and survey project the basic 
components of information are gathered either in the field or 
in archival houses, including libraries. The processes for 
gathering data from these different locals requires, in the 
initial phase of the project, close coordination and constant 
communication between project members. In addition to 
sharing research findings, the nature of different types of 
information must be understood. For example, topographical 
data gathered in the field has a quantifiable aspect to it that 
data collected from historical archives often does not possess. 
Historical information gathered in archives is subject to a 
much more subjective level of interpretation when compared 
to the physical data gathered in a site survey. Further, 
historical data is subject to multiple interpretations when 
compared to data collected during a physical survey. 
Fieldwork where oral history research has been conducted 
brings an additional set of challenges to the organization and 
structure of an historical documentation project. Ideally, all 
members of a project should have the opportunity to work in 
each facet of the project to facilitate communication among 
team members, but too often time and financial constraints 
are major factors which create a structure for a project and 
members are allowed to work only in areas where they have 
expertise. Initially, this if efficient, but ultimately, when we 
consider the use and application of data and research, the 
limited use of project members in their specialized areas 
reduces the impact that the research can make. 
An essential part of the historical documentation process is 
extensive research of archives and libraries for historical 
records of an existing site or structure. Historical