(**) DINSE - Politecnico di Torino - Facoltà di Architettura 
Viale Mattioli, 39, 10125 - Torino - Italy 
Tel. (+39)011/5644380 e-mail:spano@archi.polito.it 
KEY WORDS: Archaeological GIS, Digital Photogrammetry, Cataloguing, Digital Images 
ABSTRACT 
The aim of this work was to design a GIS for archaeological investigations, to deal with the area known as the Marchesato di 
Saluzzo, an area situated in the southern part of the Piedmont Region in the North West of Italy. This system has been set up to 
reconstruct the basic materials, the settling dynamics and the exploitation of the environmental resources of a complex and 
articulated society that existed between the XI and XV centuries. The object was to set up a GIS for the global management of the 
archaeological data which is able to correlate data of a heterogeneous nature obtained from different fields such as archaeology, 
geology, botany, history, anthropology and surveying. Apart from the census, cataloguing and archiving requirements, the GIS can 
be considered a true research and analysis instrument that is able to supply information and therefore renewed interpretation starting 
points following the interrogation of the georeferenced data. The cartographic basis, at different scales and of different types 
(thematic and cadastral maps, orthoprojections and stereophotomaps), make up the metric reference material to which a rich 
relational database obtained from different fields can be added. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The project of a new concept GIS for archaeological sites arose out of the collaboration between Politecnico di Torino and Turin 
University (Università degli Studi di Torino). This project has permitted the coexistence of different language and data types. In fact 
archaeological data sets are implemented with geological and historical data. Geomatics allows the integration of these different 
dataset and also offers the possibility of interpreting historic landscapes. Different competencies and fields of study which were 
integrated in order to develop a “synergetic effect”. 
Digital maps allows one to understand development logic of ancient settlements and their relationship with the road and 
hydrographic networks, their connection with the land resources and the geomorphic characteristics of the region. Geomatics is an 
indispensable instrument for land analysis and takes on an indispensable role in the creation of an archiving, analysing and 
representing instrument of a complex reality. 
The project was developed in two main steps: the use of SIT technology for the archiving and automatic consultation of data of 
different natures and the integration with innovative surveying techniques such as photogrammetry, laser scanning and remote 
sensing. The project is at present under way and, up till now and the activities that have been carried out are the creation of a 
relational database, georeferencing of the data collections at different scales, definition of the metadata and the production of the 
aerial stereophotomap of the town of Saluzzo and of the stereophotomap of the castle rise. 
The activities yet to be performed are the enlargement of the database involving new fields of study such as cultural anthropology, 
history of art and botany, integration with the metrical supports for the analysis of the masonry and integration with aerial and 
satellite images for the geological, anthropological and archaeological analyses. 
2. THE PROJECT 
2.1 The database and the georeferencing of the data 
The database is made up of an archive system which contains the work of studies that have been performed in the different fields that 
are involved. Among the criteria that have guided the planning of this relational database two aspects were considered to be of great 
importance.