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
