Proceedings 18 th International Symposium CIPA 2001 
Potsdam (Germany), September 18 - 21, 2001 
AN INTEGRATED 3D-GIS FOR AN INVENTORY OF THE HISTORIC MONUMENTS 
APPLIED TO THE SOUTH OF MOROCCO 
Otto Kôlbl*, Amina Fadli**, Mohamed Boussalh**, Hans Hostettler***, Christophe Hunziker* 
*Institute of Photogrammetry, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), GR-Ecublens, CH-1015 Lausanne / Switzerland 
Phone: +41-21-693.27.75, Fax: +41-21-693.57.20, E-mail: otto.koelbl@epfl.ch 
**'Centre de Conservation et de Réhabilitation du Patrimoine Architectural des Zones Atlasiques et Subatlasiques' (CERKAS) 
B.P. 253, MA-45000 Ouarzazate / Morocco, Phone/Fax: +212-44-88.30.47, E-mail: kasbah.l@iam.net.ma 
***Architect, Sandrainstrasse 3, CH-3007 Bem / Switzerland 
Phone: +41-31-311.88.61, Fax: +41-31-311.51.00, E-mail: h_t_hostettler@bluewin.ch 
KEY WORDS : Cultural Heritage, Information Systems, Morocco, Earth Architecture 
ABSTRACT 
Many efforts are undertaken to document historic sites, most of the time in books or maps properly archives. However, many of these 
efforts suffer from the fact that the documentation is compiled in archives that are difficult to access and inappropriate for automated 
analysis. The main objective of modern information systems is an easy and generalised access to the information and the possible 
aggregation of the data in order to contribute to various decision processes. 
The Institute of Photogrammetry of EPFL was invited to build up an information system for an Inventory of the Historic Monuments 
of the South of Morocco, the famous ksour and kasbahs of the Drâa Valley and the neighbouring sites. This work is being carried out 
in cooperation with the architect Hans Hostettler of Bern, Switzerland and the 'Centre de Conservation et Rehabilitation du Patri 
moine Architecturale Atlas et Subatiasique' of Morocco, situated in Ourzazate. 
The basic support for the inventory are orthophotos derived from aerial photographs in the scale 1:20,000 and 1:6,000. The inventory 
includes detailed data acquisition in the field concerning the architectural characteristics and include a survey of the local population. 
These data are then integrated within the Geographic Information System MGE of Intergraph coupled to the 3D CAD system 
Microstation. 
The study on the Inventory started 3 years ago with a pilot project. 4 months ago the information system was installed in Southern 
Morocco and the local staff started to integrate the data into the information system and examines the response of the systems to the 
problems linked to the conservation and revitalisation of the sites. The information system can be considered as a model for similar 
inventory tasks. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
A great current issue is to pay tribute to our ancestors, to understand their way of living and to maintain some testimonies to their 
achievements. I think we agree that this has to be done. The interest of the great public also shows that there is a common expectation 
in this respect. However, there is a great difference as to whether we wish to document only some archaeological sites and show the 
beauty of selected elements, or if we want to proceed to a systematic inventory of a heritage still used to a great extent by the popula 
tion and to find ways to restore and to revitalise such sites. It must be admitted that a number of countries have already built up their 
inventories of national monuments and worked out procedures for their conservation and their integration into modem life. In Swit 
zerland, all buildings and constructions of any historic value have been registered and documented by the ISOS in the form of books 
and archives [1]. In this case, the user has a wealth of information at his disposal. However, the inventory is only available in form of 
books, and much more flexibility can be achieved by using information systems including relational data bases. 
For quite some time, the Swiss authorities have been involved in working out an inventory of the historic monuments of the Arabic 
countries (i.e. the exhibition on 'Inventaire systématique par photographies aériennes pour la sauvegarde des sites et de leur environ 
nement' presented during the international seminar 'The photogrammetry applied to Islamic architecture', held in Tunis in 1984 and 
organised in collaboration with the CIPA), in particular in the South of Morocco. The Institute of Photogrammetry has been incorpo 
rated within this project to cover the photogrammetric part and also to work out procedures for data handling. In fact the inventory 
should be based on aerial photographs; furthermore, ways have to be defined to store the information systematically and to allow for 
the various queries. In this way an information system allowing assistance in decision-making for restoration and revitalisation is 
going to be built up. The information system of Intergraph MGE is used as a basis. The system was installed in Ouarzazate a few 
months ago and is being used by the local authorities for that inventory. 
In the following pages, we try to work out the guidelines for building up an information system for the inventory of cultural heritage. 
First an attempt is made to show up the current methods used by historians and architects for this task. Then we analyse the method 
ology required by an information system, before finally explaining the approach chosen for the inventory of the historic monuments 
of Southern Morocco.