Section I: Description of the overall project

1. Marketing aspects

1.1 Description of the services
1.2 Market analysis
1.3 Customers

2.1 Costs
2.2 Preliminary financing plan

4. Technical aspects

4.1 Overall technical description
4.2 Technology and standards used

5. Project maturity

6. Socio-economic benefits

7. Justification and eligibility for Community aid

The places of culture (museums, monuments, archeological sites, libraries and historic archives, etc.), the main goal of this type of tourism, are certainly the heart of the system which, however, has to also include hotels, restaurants, welcoming places, transport, flow organization and management mechanisms, etc., in general all those components which improve the quality-price ratio of the offered system.

The Heritage UK market analysis below gives a rough indication on forecast and likely funds available to Internet, multimedia and VR technology projects. Source information is from the National Lottery Annual Report & Accounts 1995/6 they have been used to estimate the percentage of funds available to technology based projects.

• Millennium Fund - £800m 10% of Fund Approx. spend =£80m - Growth
• Heritage Fund - £800m 4% of Fund Approx. spend = £32m - Rapid
• Arts Fund - £800m 8% of Fund Approx. spend = £64m - Emerging
• Sports Fund - £800m 2% of Fund Approx. spend = £16m - Restricted

The figures sketch the potential of the Lottery market (total of £192 million) calculated over a three-year period, June 1997 to 2001. The majority of technology spend is likely to occur during late 1998 through to 2001 once the infrastructure and building projects are completed.
MOSAIC’s main objective is to make art available to the public. It will encourage cultural exchange between countries in Europe and the rest of the world. This is fundamental because recent studies (Eurobarometer 09/97) have shown that the number of visitors from Japan and America interested in our art is far greater than the 28% of Europeans interested in getting ‘on line’ to view art.
So, MOSAIC can be seen as an operative branch of the "Memorandum of Understanding" backed by the EEC. Already around one hundred museums and other operators in the field (around 400) have joined to create the biggest possible multi-media communication system.
In the feasibility study phase an analysis of the target user has been done. In fact, before to introduce a new service on the culture is very important to better outline the users expectation and needs. A preliminary list of users is, in any case, take into account in our commercial analysis (specialists, researchers, students, tourists, tourist operators, adept employees,..).

Considering the fact that the first step of the CSC services is manly based on the network dissemination of existing cultural application, we have put our attention to the Internet world of users. The following figures illustrates how the Internet can offer an easy way to get wired with the system.

The major considerations that can be resumed are the following:

• Access Systems
• 28% use PCs at Home (22% interested)
• 15% have CD-Roms (24% interested)
• Internet usage low (4%), but interested high (24%)
• Scandinavian & Benelux countries have highest use (and interest) in the Internet

• Internet / WWW users in the EU are predominantly
• Male
• Young
• Highly educated & still studying
• Managers & White Collar Workers
• & have high incomes

• On-Line Museum Visits
• 28% are interested. 19 million people
• Interest is highest in Southern Europe & Scandinavia
• Most willing to pay are :
• 25-54 years olds
• Highly educated & still studying
• Managers & self-employed
• & have high incomes
• Possible new revenue stream of 1 bn/ECU/year

The following table illustrates the number of existing Web pages in EU countries :

• 34% of Web sites are in the local language only
• 29% of Web sites are in English only
• 30% of Web sites in the local language and English
• 7% of Web sites are in multiple languages in addition to English and the local language
• only two Web sites in two languages, neither of which was in English

• 64% of Web sites have some English pages
• 19% of web sites have some French pages
• 8% of Web sites have some Spanish pages
• 7% of Web sites have some Italian pages
• 3% of Web sites have some German pages

So far, MOSAIC has been the only project, financed by the EEC in the TEN-Telecom program (Trans European Networks Telecommunications), that is actively involved in and dedicated to our cultural heritage. The TEN-Telecom framework will, in this case, promote and support the creation of International networks for viewing art through multi-media.
So, MOSAIC can be seen as an operative branch of the "Memorandum of Understanding" backed by the EEC. Already around one hundred museums and other operators in the field (around 400) have joined to create the biggest possible multi-media communication system.
Mosaic represents a particular initiative as far as we didn’t see any other global project concerning both services and products on the field of cultural heritage already activated in a organized structure as this one.
We could consider important projects as AMICO and CIMI but as far as we have already reach an agreement with them to cooperate in the field of cultural heritage we must consider them more as an integration of our project than a real competitor.

MOSAIC network is linked to advanced technology ISDN and ATM and its nodule points in technological and service management partners are: Infobyte of Roma, Politecnico of Milano, CINECA of Bologna (GARR and the University network, a consortium of colleagues of 13 Italian universities: Ancona, Bologna, Catania, Ferrara, Firenze, Modena, Padova, Parma, Siena, Trento, Udine, Venezia) ZGDV of Darmstadt (the network of the universities of Germany, Portugal and South America), Arenotech of Paris, JCR of Graz, Japan (the private and university network) USA, Canada, Egypt and other countries. The broadcasting Centres can rely on the Banca di Roma distribution network (1200 branches open to the pubic) and 300.000 consumers of the experimental network ATM by Bell. Both in the ABI network (Italian banking Association) and with the board for Cultural Relations of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have shown interest in becoming members in order to spread Italian cultural heritage through a diplomatic network abroad. Firstly through Italian Cultural Institutes and then through Italian Embassies and Consulates throughout the world. A technological agreement is going to be defined between MOSAIC and CHIN (Canadian Heritage Information Network).
An interesting experiment will take place by the end of ’98 at the Shoenbrunn castle in Austria. The first MOSAIC Service Centres will be started so the products and services can be tested by the public. There are numerous industrial partners involved in the MOSAIC project, here are some of them: Hewlett Packard, Silicon Graphics Apple, Telecom Imation, Microsoft and Italtel. Hewlett Packard, in particular, will take part in the star up of the Image Server and the relative techniques of the management of images. Imation is taking part with its years of experience in the field of photography (Ferrania brand) and medical images whereas Italtel is participating with the setting up of network technology and user points.
In particular, for the trial validation and verification phase the CSC network, will be enlarged to the Sweden, Portugal and Spain. And will be reinforced the CSC distribution on the already present countries: France, Italy , Germany and Austria.

A relevant part of the interlocutors, contacted during the workshops, have already demonstrated a concrete attention to the MOSAIC project. The list of the additional partners is the following :

• Schloss Schoenbrunn
• Österrechische National Bibliothek
• AIT - Angewandte Informationstechnik - Graz
• Associated of Hofburg
• Albertina – Wien

• Virtual Presence Limited - Sale Cheshire
• VASARI Enterprise ltd – London
• Cambridge Management group

• Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie - Paris
• SIM TEAM - Paris
• Fondation Sophia Antipolis
• Club MITSA - Sophia Antipolis
• Cryo-Networks – Paris

• ART+COM
• Museum fur Antike Schiffahrt - Mainz
• Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum - Mainz
• Bildarchiv Preussicher Kulturbesitz - Mainz

• Accademia Massimo - Roma
• AIACE - International Association of Computing in Archaeology
• Apple Italia – Milano
>
• Archivio Centro di Catalogazione Beni Culturali Villa Manin - Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia
• Archivio Storico Bulgarini d'Elci
• Archivio Storico Diocesano di Milano
• Associazione Bancaria Italiana – Roma*
• Bancaria Editrice – Roma*
• Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona
• Canadian Embassy of Rome*
• Cap Gemini Italia S.p.A.
• Capware – Ottaviano, Napoli
• CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
• Cooperativa archeologia, s.c.r.l. per la valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale - Firenze
• Ente Interregionale - Progetto Europeo "Herity" - Roma
• Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta – Milano
• Fondazione Longhi - Firenze
• Fondazione Ricci Oddi, Piacenza
• Fondazione San Paolo di Torino
• Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna - Roma
• Istituto Italiano per l'Industria Culturale - Roma
• ITALTEL S.p.A. – Milano
• Luiss - Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali
• Marsilio Editore - Venezia
• Mediatech, Roma
• Ministero Affari Esteri – Roma*
• Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali - Sopraintendenza per i beni ambientali e storici per l'Abruzzo, L'Aquila.
• Musei Capitolini - Antiquarium Comunale - Roma
• Museo dell’Orto Botanico - Roma
• Nautilus – Capri
• Progetti Museali S.p.A.
• Progetto: "I Musei Virtuali della Certosa di Calci". Progetto concordato tra lo Studio ZYX, la Soprintendenza B.A.A.A.S. di Pisa
• Provincia di Milano, Assessorato alla Cultura e Tempo Libero
• Regione Lombardia, Assessorato alla Cultura e Trasparenza – Milano
• Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa - Centro Ricerche Informatiche per i Beni Culturali
• Silicon Graphics - Milano
• Sovraintendenza delle Antichità e Belle Arti del Comune di Roma
• TELECOM ITALIA
• Università degli studi di Pisa. Supportato dal Comune di Calci e dalla Provincia di Pisa
• Università degli Studi di Trieste - Dipartimento EI – Trieste
• Università di Padova - Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informatica

• Centro de Computacao Grafica – Coimbra
• Universidade Do Minho – Retoria
• Museu Regional De Arqueuologia D. Diogo De Sousa – Braga
• Universidade de Tras-os-montes e Alto Douro

• Göteborg University - Department of Environmental Science and Conservation - Institute of Conservation
• Metimur Company (technical Partner)

• Centro de Estudios del Patrimonio – Madrid
• University of Jaén
• Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona
• Universidad Autonoma de Palma de Mallorca
• Ministerio de la Cultura – Madrid
• Museo Nacional de la Ciencia y de la Tecnologia – Madrid*

• Hewlett Packard Europe (Belgium)
• Imation S.p.A (borne of 3M Innovation)
• Microsoft Europe
• National Technical Museum - Prague

• R.I.T.S.E.C. - Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Center - Egypt
• CRC Research Institute Inc.
• SUMS (System for Universal Media Searching) project - G7 - Toronto - Canada *
• Guggenheim Museum - NY (USA)
• CAD Center Corporation
• CALTECH - CA (USA -G7 partner)
• Capital Normal University - Beijing - PR of China*
• CHIN Canadian Heritage Information Network*
• Xerox Palo Alto Research Center - Palo Alto CA – USA*
• Lighscape Inc. - San Jose CA – USA*
• Multigen Inc. - Palo Alto – USA
• Microsoft Reseach Centre - Redmond WA – USA
• AMICO – USA*

The distribution of information between the CIS and its relative subsystems will enable the management at a centralized level of the following data:
MOSAIC Node definition;
Artwork Definition and Classification;
Events.
The MOSAIC Nodes will be given the task of managing specific information of each single institution, i.e. actual data regarding the artworks, such as the Definition, Classification, Repertoires and Specimens. Interaction between the CIS and its will necessarily be made possible by the use of unique identifiers for each artwork.
This organization, deliberately distributed and potentially heterogeneous, will be adopted to reflect what seem to be the most common situations in the target structures (museums and galleries). In the aims of implementing a project of general value, the need to integrate already functioning specialized systems or subsystems must be taken into consideration, so as to make the implementation of the proposed structure as feasible as possible.
The dividing of nodes in a hierarchical structure and the splitting of information between the MOSAIC CIS and the local Nodes also will offer a number of inherent advantages with respect to centralized implementations on a single server. In the structure here presented, operations entailing the maximum exploitation of resources, i.e. retrieval of specimens and repertoire information, are carried out at a local level, without requiring a transfer in bulk of information towards the MOSAIC CIS: such a solution could also lead to the optimization of the infrastructures and a large flexibility in the choice of the appropriate network connections for each Node.
The Information system’s Database
The choice of the database management system underpins the general philosophy of the project, and inspires a thoroughgoing analysis of the main features of the Database Management System (DBMS).
The considerable improvements regarding services and reliability of relational database management systems (RDBMS) have brought, in recent years, to their increasing use in a number of different sectors. The benefits deriving from the use of RDBMS in the MOSAIC project could indeed be remarkable, especially considering the dimensions of the managed archives and the complexity of data structures. The techniques and platforms adopted to implement the many different and locally customized databases could be extremely diversified. Starting from small, Stand-Alone, systems on a personal computer, then reaching the large Client-Server system used for the management of the entire Mosaic Information System (MIS). Moreover, in the particular case of large structures, implementation techniques should be based on Client-Server architectures, guaranteeing a better, more flexible distribution of information.
Thus, notwithstanding the specific characteristics of each local structure, information management within the Mosaic framework will be formed by a great number of independent applications capable of satisfying local needs and, at the same time, capable of maintaining a sufficient level of communication between each other. The existence of a wide variety of local management systems, already available and used for artwork classification in several museums and galleries, suggests the need for a solution capable of integrating such systems as independent nodes of the Mosaic network, rather than replacing or duplicating the databases with a standard database model.
From this point of view, the use of relational database servers in each single implementation today guarantees a substantial level of interoperability, in line with the philosophy of the distributed databases.
The philosophy of the Mosaic network should therefore take into account the existence of independent subsystems, which anticipated the choice of a global policy encompassing the entire structure - a choice which was facilitated by great technological progress and by the availability of several solutions for the implementation of databases.
The distributed system resulting from the integration of the single implementations can no doubt be defined as heterogeneous: the problems stemming from the use of different RDBMSs, typically installed on different platforms, are many and not always solvable. Considering the state of current day technology, one may say that integration is possible in general, and that the considered systems are able to exchange information transparently.
The Communication Protocol
The adoption of a standard communication protocol for the exchange of data between the MOSAIC CIS and its Nodes is evidently one of the major concerns of this project. Several consolidated protocols are today available, but most of them can not be easily be used in the above-mentioned heterogeneous network. In many cases, in fact, the standards simply provide an efficient means for transmitting information from one node to the other with an "all or nothing" solution for the meaning of the information itself. In other words, depending on the standard adopted, the receiver has a priori knowledge about any token of information, or simply receives a block of unknown information. The definition of a complete "data dictionary" for the classification of the information used in the context of the MOSAIC project is evidently the cornerstone of the system itself, and should be integrated with the definition of a communication protocol capable of a precise transfer syntax, to ensure that information is correctly transmitted and received, and of flexible semantic rules, grouping the many tokens of information defined by the dictionary into several modules, each having their own rules. For example, the protocol should define the attributes "Title" and "Location" for an artwork, but should also require the presence of the "Author" attribute in a "Artwork Identification Module".
The use of an appropriate transfer syntax alone can not be considered satisfactory, since the different institutions could transmit heterogeneous information. On the other hand, the adoption of fixed semantic rules could be too rigid for the management of a large number of nodes, since the data dictionary could be progressively expanded and the organization of the data modules could be changed. According to these considerations, the solution proposed is based on the use of DICOM, the leading standard for the exchange of heterogeneous data (text, images, sequences, audio, etc.) in the medical field. This standard largely proved to be efficient and robust in many mission critical applications, and is suitable for any customization to the specific needs of the MOSAIC network.
The DICOM standard was developed by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), and is targeted to the exchange of digital images between different devices, the development and diffusion of Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) and the interfacing of different systems. DICOM is based on a relational model of the real world, and does not constrain the implementation and the management of data on each node archives. The standard is Object Oriented, and is therefore based on the definition of abstract data modules, each including several attributes, which can be grouped together to create the Information Objects (Information Object Definition, IDO). Each actual object of the real world is therefore described by the attributes of an Instance of the related Information Object. The definition of the data dictionary (i.e. of the many attributes available and of their characteristics), of the Data Modules and of the Information Objects is considerably flexible, and can be easily customized to fit the requirements of any application. The set of actions or operations that can be applied to the Information Object is defined through a number of service primitives, called DICOM Service Elements (DIMSE). These elements are basically divided in two categories: operations and notifications. Any communication through the DICOM protocol is therefore based on the coupling of an Information Object and a Service Element, thus defining a Service-Object Pair (SOP). The association of the same Object with a number of suitable Services defines a SOP Class. Each node of a DICOM network could implement one or more SOP Classes, playing the role of user of the service (Service Class User, SCU) or provider (Service Class Provider, SCP). The protocol is structured in nine parts, as follows: Introduction, Conformance, Information Object Definitions, Service Classes Definition, Data Structures and Semantics, Data Dictionary, Message Exchange, Network communication, Point-to-point communication. The DICOM standard is ISO/OSI compliant, and can therefore be efficiently adopted in the MOSAIC framework by simply defining the needed Information Object, together with their attributes, and the coupling of these objects with the Service Elements, i.e. the SOP Classes.
The Information Model: The exchange of data will be based on an information model describing the objects of the real world to be managed in the MOSAIC framework. The Artwork can be considered the main object of the information model, since it describes the root information to be managed in the MOSAIC system. An artwork belongs to a MOSAIC Node, which could represent a museum, a gallery, etc., and could also be part of a collection of artworks. For each artwork, several Repertoires can be created, each describing a particular situation in the life of the artwork, as for example, in the case of restorations. Each repertoire can then group together several Specimens, each including homogeneous multimedia representations of the artwork.

To allow a flexible definition of the IODs, all the available attributes could be grouped into several independent Data Modules, as shown in the following table.

Artwork Multimedia Data IOD
The multimedia representation of an artwork, instead, will be managed by a separate IOD, Artwork Multimedia Data, in which all the information about Repertoires, Specimens and Multimedia objects could be found.

MOSAIC Storage Service Class
The implementation of the storage service class will provide services at the application level, allowing the transfer of data and images between different MOSAIC nodes. Two distinct classes of services should be considered, according to the separation of data between the CIS and the peripheral nodes:
Artwork Multimedia Data Storage:
based on the information defined by the Artwork Multimedia Data Object, allowing the transfer of multimedia representations of the artwork together with data useful for the identification of the artwork itself.
Artwork Identification Storage:
based on the information defined by the Artwork Identification Object, allowing the notification of the existence of an artwork from a node to the reference CIS..
MOSAIC Query Retrieve Service Class
The implementation of the Query Retrieve Service Class will provide services for querying a MOSAIC Node and retrieving information with different level of detail. This service class should not be considered as a flexible and powerful search tool, but as a simple mechanism for hierarchically navigating the MOSAIC Nodes, allowing other Nodes of the network to request information about the available artworks.
Identification Only Query Retrieve FIND:
allowing the retrieval of general information from a node, such as the Node Information, Collections and Artwork Definitions. This service class should mainly be implemented and used by the CIS, where the detail of stored information is limited to the definition of the artwork.
Artwork Query Retrieve FIND:
extending the Identification Only Query Retrieve SOP Class to the Multimedia Representation Level.
Artwork Query Retrieve MOVE:
allowing a node to request the transfer of data, through the use of Storage Sub-Operations, to a destination node.
Communication Model
On the basis of the previously defined Sop Classes (IOD and services) a possible model of communication within the MOSAIC network could be described as follows:

1. A multimedia representation of an artwork is made in a museum or in any other appropriate facility. The operator is concerned with carrying out, with the use of a special application (Manager Interface), the necessary operations for archiving the Artwork on its MOSAIC Reference Node, (MUSEUM_1). This Reference Node could manage the electronic archives of a museum, of a group of museums or of any facility capable of making a multimedia reproduction of artwork. The Manager Interface must be capable of providing the operator with the necessary instruments for creating a complete Artwork object, i.e. with data and multimedia. It must also implement, with the role of User, the Artwork Multimedia Data Storage Service Class, which enables to make requests for archiving.
2. The Reference Node MUSEUM_1, acting as an Artwork Multimedia Data Storage Service Class Provider, receives the multimedia representation and archives it. At this point, it automatically or, according to time limits established by the person responsible, notifies its MOSAIC CIS Node that the multimedia representation is available on its database (Artwork Identification Only Storage SCU). The CIS will keep all notifications in memory and, in doing so, it will create a meta-database on the basis of which it will provide the Artwork Identification Only Query/Retrieve Service.
3. Users who wish to visualize the multimedia representations of an artwork must have an application (User Interface) that firstly implements the Artwork Identification Only Query/Retrieve SCU service with which they may send queries to the CIS Server. The CIS Server provides for information on Museums, Collections and Artworks, and in this latter case, in particular, the necessary information (network address, port, caller AE, called AE) for connecting to the MOSAIC Node that keep multimedia representations of a requested Artwork.
4. At this point users directly connect to the target MOSAIC Node, and acting as Artwork Query/Retrieve SCU can carry out hierarchical queries by scrolling down from the "Museum Level" to the "Multimedia Level" and the multimedia representations may be easily obtained at the client side.
5. Alternatively, users may request to transfer the entire Artwork object with a MOVE query.

Creating an integrated system on culture entails individualising a series of agent entities (museums, libraries, photo-archive,.. ) and of users (specialists, researchers, tourists, tourist operators, adept employees,..) and the cultural service centres capable of facilitating and meeting agents entity and users with an added value.
The agent entities and the users are today two macrocosms disjoined or casually integrated. For this reason exists a flow detachment between inquiries and requests.
It is, therefore, mandatory to define an intermediate layer of interconnection that can make the system truly interoperable (cultural service centre).

The technical Mosaic framework can be presented in terms of client fronted (application) and server organisation (infrastructures):

As the ganglions of a nervous system the cultural service centres know the semantic rules of the primary users (multilingualism and interoperability) and satisfy the most sophisticated inquires (theme of research) inside to the cultural dimensional parameters: heritage period, multi-subject (pictorial, archaeological, bibliographical,.. ), .. with a multimedia response (image+ text+photo+ ...).
The cultural service centre knows how to get access to all the primary information sites (museum, libraries,..) through their specialised catalogue (Meta-database).
This centre works as an information centre through the internet document allowing the dissemination of all the cultural information related to a theme (e.g.: Picasso, the gothic architecture, the painters of the 1500, the Greece sculpture ..) and can reach other centre that manage other themes in order to give a complete overview on cultural heritage. The related services are aimed to disseminate cultural events (stages, exhibitions, workshops, meetings, manifestations..) on which the theme is treated.
The integrated cultural system is therefore a structured capillary make-up of information of primary layer (images,texts,photo, video,..) archived into the agents entity (museums, library,...) that keeps the information and the semantic structures of second layer (cultural service centres) that know how to join the primary layer information via an high speed network (ATM ) and can furnish it to the final user via internet.

We believe in two types of intervention:

a) an heterogeneous tool kit that allow the user navigation into the cultural heritage patrimony via internet. The tool kit is composed by several specialised tools on different cultural fields (handling of paintings (zoom,color filter, restoration results visualisation..), handling of sculpture (3D visualisation, radiography maps, ...) , handling of archaeological ruins (Virtual reality reconstruction, forecast for environmental effects,..), a cultural on-line browser (multilingual and interoperable thematic inquiring of raw data, correlation of homogeneous information,..), etc..
With this environment the user can build an added value local database of cultural information highly manageable and customised.
The tool kit will expand the diffusion of cultural heritage on the user community with an educational and professional added value. By this tool kit the user becomes an active actor of the cultural evolution and can articulate and develop personal theory on the specific cultural subject.
The aim of this tool kit is to transform an user from a passive actor to an active one.

b) a whole of cultural service centres particularly specialised on single cultural subject or complex subjects (archaeology, architecture,..) capable of dialoguing with all the cultural information depository structures (museums, library,..) via an wide-band networks (Euro ISDN, ATM).
These centres are pivotal elements of the nervous system at the base of the flow of the cultural heritage information.

A New Approach to the Cultural Heritage

Detecting 3D rests on archaeological sites and storing them in a new realistic way is changing the archaeological thought. At the same time, new tools are preparing the Public Administration to control and to manage information. Supporting decision in restoring and rebuild ancient monuments and artworks, the Virtual Reality can give new life to the scientific hypothesis without expose the real ruins to the impact of erroneous actions. So monuments could be rebuild 3-dimensionally following several hypothesis, virtually restored and brought all around the world without damaging the real one. Furthermore, virtual tools can help Museums, Cultural Associations and Foundation to better explain the meanings involved in the monuments, and could convert these information in electronic publishing, either on CD-ROM than on the Net.
Some Remarks on the Use of the Virtual Reality in the Archaeology and Art History
Adding the "Infinite Resolution" technology to their well known applications Infobyte, one of the world leader companies in VR and Multimedia explains the use of the textures, images and high definition capability to build more immersive 3D-environments and more exciting multimedia titles.
Using 3D tools on the Web to visit Monuments
VRML, Java, Cosmo, QTVR, AlphaWorld and other environments can allow the production or re-production of artworks and archaeological sites on the Web. Museums can benefits from the Net in order to allow the potential visitors to preview their contents, to prepare cultural rides and to reserve tickets, time visiting and accommodations.
Urban Space and 3D Managing
The experience of the Graz University in Austria and of the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. Virtual reconstruction of Quarters and Blocks help the Public Administration to control and to projects interventions in the cities of the Old Continent.
(Prof. Franz Leberl from the Graz Univ. And some other from the FhI, Germany)
Digital Analysis of Paintings and Frescos
A program for the analysis of the perspective of colour raster images and the rebuilding of the corresponding tridimensional models without loss of chromatic information is presented using, as an example, the famous painting "La flagellazione" ("The flagellation") by Piero della Francesca. The seminar will show the different phases necessary to determine the elements needed for the rebuilding (the distance of the observation point from the painting and from the ground) starting with the extraction of the basic perspective structures of the painting (ground plane, lines) up to the calculation of the main accidental point, of the horizon line and the distance point.
It is then shown how it is possible on the basis of these elements to rebuild most of the 3D model that originated the image. Some representations of the model will then be shown using different view points and different directions of observation.
About Virtual Archaeology
"Towards a virtual archaeology" is the evocative title of an article published by Paul Reilly in 1991. In it he describes some of the possible courses that might be taken by the archaeology of the future - an archaeology we can imagine as being essentially technological, multidisciplinary and virtual (in the scientific sense of the word), because it will be linked into the fields of computer processing, simulation, experimentation and computer reconstruction. But will the archaeology of the future be like that ? What language will it be using in the third millennium ? What will its fields of investigation be ?
Above all, how much of the ancient world will be able to reconstruct from the remnants of its material culture, sites and buildings ?
The possibilities that are increasingly being created by scientific and technological research have opened new horizons for archaeology and redrawn its boundaries. As progress marches on , we will be able to reconstruct ever larger segments of our most distant past, leading to a more accurate understanding of the macrocosm of the ancient world. The problem for archaeology is to retrieve the maximum possible amount of information from the material culture, so as to recapture its non-material aspects as well.
However, this process of amassing and interpreting information is a continuous one; what we cannot find out or understand now, we will be able to comprehend in the future - provided we do not destroy or lose the underlying data. It is important, therefore, not to waste information or lose access to it. In this process of acquisition , restoration and re-presentation the assistance of computers and other technology has become vital, and it is here that the term virtual archaeology becomes valid. The archaeology of the third millennium will very likely be a science with a strong technological element that will enhance out of all proportion our ability to explore, to interpret and to classify, bringing with it a greater and more penetrating ability to reconstruct the past. Loosely speaking, it will be a computerized archaeology, because it will involve the large-scale use of computer and archaeometric science in a major scientific endeavour to develop a truly virtual research laboratory. The "quality" of archaeological information and classification will in future create the bases of a new cognitive science.
Excavation and fieldwork are sometimes rather embarrassing for the archaeologist, because (paradoxically) they involve partially destroying the site that is the object of research without ever being able to recapture the whole of the information it contains. In the course of exploration the archaeologist destroys stratigraphy and structures and removes large quantities of soil in order to be able to interpret the excavated remains; "seeing what’s underneath is essential for interpretation, but it never provides a whole answer. In many cases - including the cities richest in history - ancient structures hide yet earlier structures. Troy, for instance, had at least nine main phases dating between 3000 bc and the Roman period (Troy IX), and other phases again dating to the Late Antique and subsequent periods. Each one of these phases describes and represents a different city, and each would become intelligible to archaeologists only after thorough investigation - and yet this would have to involve the removal of overlying structures from later phases. Stratigraphy represents an extremely varied and complex sequence of innumerable pieces of information that are often difficult to identify - but not one of them is insignificant, and (ideally) not one should be destroyed.
Archaeological excavation is therefore a complex process that, if carried out correctly, allows a reconstruction of past events - or of a small part of them. That is the constant problem of archaeological research. Only a small amount of intelligible information can be recovered from the ground - a minute percentage of classifiable "events" at a site - and the very activity of excavation inevitably involves some degree of destruction of the information that is buried.
A banal example: how much information do changes in the architecture or furnishings of one’s own house (or even the living-room or bedroom) contain about what has taken place in it ? Only one’s own memory can reliably record all that has happened there, for few of the actions and events will have left visible traces: the changed position of a piece of furniture, a mark on the wall or a chipped tile. If our house is destroyed, an archaeologist investigating its remains in the distant future will be able to reconstruct very little of what took place in it. If no related documents have been found, he or she will find it very hard even to work out which rooms was which (without the furnishings, how do you distinguish a living- room from a bedroom ?).
Therefore, the ability to reproduce virtually the whole exploratory phase of archaeological research is the decision-maker’s tool that enables us to answer the question "How much do we reconstruct ?" It is perhaps our only means of refining ever more accurate classifications and interpretations. It therefore also represents the last stage of research: the recreation of an ancient space, including even its most esoteric aspects - not arbitrarily and unchangeably, but virtually.
The methods at the disposal of archaeology - first put on a scientific basis when it enlisted the aid of information science and computers in the 1960s - can now justifiably be called multidisciplinary, because they span so many areas of the applied sciences. The interaction between research in archaeology, geology and the physical, natural and information sciences is now providing an ever firmer methodological foundation. However, one of the great goals of archaeology is to be presenter (or re-presenter) of information - of what we can be deduced and extrapolated from its data and finds.
Alongside research, therefore, it has an equally important role of communication and dissemination to develop. Amongst the many fields of research, archaeology -synthesizing the most disparate hypotheses in an all-embracing scientific attempt to reconstruct the past - is one of those best able to capture the imagination of the public.
Why is the virtual reconstruction of an archaeological site so important ? Because, over and above its strong popular impact, computer reconstruction allows the presentation of complex information in a visual way that enables it to be used to test and refine the image or model that has been created. It is very much more than a graphic reconstruction: it is a simulation. And, because it is a simulation, it provides a non-intrusive and non-destructive means of exploring a model in three dimensions and from an infinite number of viewpoints. Furthermore, it allows objective verification to be made of possible interpretations of architecture, material culture, topography, palaeo-environmental data, restoration, museum display, and any number of other factors.
The ancient world that could be explored by virtual archaeology is a world in color - very different from the monochrome world to which earlier reconstructions have accustomed us. The polychrome renderings of building materials - from Parian marble to wood, from stone to travertine, from limestone to terracotta, and so on - convey the colour and texture and vitality of the architectural finishes and the ancient buildings they adorn.
All these factors make virtual archaeology a highly useful tool for enlarging our knowledge of a field that has hitherto been under-explored, perhaps because it is concerned with the past.
In April 1995, at "Technology, Instruments and Applications", the third International Conference on the World Wide Web (now the major element of the Internet, the world’s largest digital network), a new graphics language was presented: VRML, Virtual Reality Modelling Language. VRML is a language that describes three-dimensional objects and allows the user to move from texts into three-dimensional spaces and vice-versa. It is a completely new way of visualizing information in three-dimensional space via hypermedia links, allowing the information/objects to be rotated, moved and observed from any angle. This powerful graphic language opens up new and extraordinary possibilities for handling multimedia data in three-dimensional form.
We think that in the near future archaeological information will be available in VRML format, offering the opportunity of exploring for instance virtual archaeological parks furnished with physical and conceptual models, with finite territories and multidimensional ideas.
Some reference application in the Archaeological field are: Pompei, The "Rocca di Entella", The "Bucchero of Marzabotto", Stonehenge reconstruction, Ur digital 3D model, The Monumental Architectures of Ebla ,The Tumbs of Horemheb and Bakenrenef, Prince Uage room at Khelua, Lascaux Cave, Chhokia digital reconstruction ,Pueblo Bonito, Tenochtitlàn

Edutainment is potentially a new field of development for software applications. Such kind of "value added" games will substitute common "shot & kill" games adding some useful content like historical background to the entertainment. This approach will be also useful in the field of cultural heritage promoting edutainment applications linked with artworks or archaeological sites. One of the first example in this direction has been showed on the occasion of Imagina INA 97 in Monaco. The application is called "Versailles 1685: A game of Intrigue at the Court of Louis XIV". The application is mainly based on a digital 3D reconstruction of the palace of Versailles as was in the XVII century fitted with original paintings and furniture. This game presented one major challenge: how to reconcile imperative game requirements and the constraints of historical fact, or, how to keep an attractive game form while still communicating historical data which is, by nature, rigid and unwieldy. These two imperatives had to be combined without allowing either one to cancel out the other. In this game is an incredibly effective means of reconstructing a Versailles that no longer exists. It enables us to explore the chateau exactly as it was in 1685, to infuse our often ponderous documentation with new life and to put the hum and throb of life back in the chateau. New technology enables us to makeVersailles better known to the public by leading them away from the beaten track. For the chateauis not very well known, apart from the State Apartments and the Hall of Mirrors. Given that the game takes place in 1685, locations had to be reconstituted exactly as they were at that time, whereas the chateau and the gardens were permanently being modified. In such historical reconstruction the documentation, in the form of engravings, paintings, architectural elevations, memoirs atc., is sometimes contradictory or incomplete and require rigorous collation.
The player has to solve a plot to kill the king taking part to the main ceremonies and events linked to the king’s everyday life. QuickTime VR^TM – like environment let the user walk through the palace looking at frescos and asking for further information about artworks and architecture. The king’s day regulated life at the Court so it naturally came to underlie the way the game unfolds. As a result, the historical reality of life in the chateau at the time is intimately interwoven into the game. Similarly, anecdotes recounted by chroniclers of the time have also been integrated into the story.
This application enables us to rediscover Versailles and provides an astounding confrontation between the reality of still existing places and the reconstitution of those that have disappeared. The reconstitution provides detail, allowing us to contemplate the variety of the décor, its beauty and its quality. The user can also discover astonishing things which we would otherwise not imagine at Versailles, such as the spiral staircase.
Such experiments will bring the monument back to life meant redecorating rooms and re-installing paintings at present scattered around different museums. Paintings are placed in their original locations and textiles are fully restored in order to reconstitute the monument as it was at the time.

Another interesting example of SOHO market application devoted to cultural heritage is, no doubt, "Roma", a full tridimensional interactive application rebuilding the ancient Imperial Rome with palaces, houses, monuments in the original "coloured" aspect.

The Annual Review – Project Assessment has evaluated the work done until now between good and satisfactory. The overall recommendation has been : Continue.
The MOSAIC Consortium has discovered a strong expectation from the cultural world (from different players in the cultural heritage). Following the line of MOU, we found many potential partners which are very interested as industry in sponsoring, institutional organizations for content provision, users (customers) interested in access to the content promoting artistic goods (large demand from owners of artistic goods), etc.…
Technology Infrastructure are available, but a part of the content is still „missing". A facilitation of creating and managing new content is necessary. We will achieve it by increasing the capability to manage with institutional organizations. Shift of paradigm from centralized to cooperative (decentralized) approach - network aspect.
The creation of new areas and economic flows around the valorization of cultural heritage could determine an anomalous and opposing trend phenomenon. In this case there is the possibility that the introduction of new value added technologies could increase employment instead of reducing it (something that occurs almost everywhere in other applicational sectors).
For this reason we believe that MOSAIC by creating new services, can give the opportunity for new jobs.
A relevant part of the interlocutors, contacted during the workshops, have already demonstrated a concrete attention to the MOSAIC project. The list of the additional partners is already presented in the previous paragraph.
To confirm the interest created by the MOSAIC project, a particular honor has been given to MOSAIC for its innovative aspect. The Smithsonian Institute has awarded a prize to MOSAIC for 1998. The official prize giving will take place on April 6 1998. Apart for the obvious value of this award, this acknowledgment also represents an interesting sign of the value added that projects backed by the European Commission can represent throughout the world.
MOSAIC is aimed towards a global market and has to place its attention on users distributed world-wide.
The rapid activation of this direction is conceived on a logical basis of this type: detection of a vast network of agents and a world-wide distribution (EU, G7, etc.) capable of guaranteeing the retrieval of information on the patrimonial cultural (depository countries) and able to divulge them (user and promotional countries). Combine these agents to agencies, corporations, institutions and foundations capable of sustaining the system's start-up.
This first operational kernel is based on the partner’s group present in this proposal, but it will be amplified during the project evolution. Therefore, the objective is that of retracing the dissemination process which in the recent past occurred in the technological context with the Internet phenomenon.
The ulterior elements on which MOSAIC pay attention are the following:

• how to express the promotional capacity
• how to manage self-financing
• how to activate this course
• how to understand the user's needs
• how to guarantee the quality and the accuracy of the contents

• the correct multi lingualism of the dissemination products
• the management of thematic thesaurus
• the individualisation of quality fees of the dissemination product on the MM, VR and Internet technologies
• the analysis of the product's semantic contents

From the analysis of the state of the arts it has been evidenced how the flow of the divulged cultural patrimony is fragmented, not very structured and above all incapable of creating aimed international synergy. Initiatives are lacking and guidelines coming from cultural environments, in essence, start a promotional motor. Create synergy and activate the thematic discourse between the various institutions that are the promoting agents of the system.
Mosaic promises to understand what the diverse cultural centres are doing or trying to do and how they can be enforced. The make-up of a cultural service centres that has within an organised group of people responsible for the promotion of a single theme or more cultural themes seems to be the right answer for this request. This organisation team has the task of maintaining contact with the other cultural centres disseminated in the Mosaic system to predispose video-conferences linked to specific themes, to promote cultural events and manifestations, to organise work groups and debates and to manage a cultural newsletter regarding the context. All of these operations are idealised within a consolidated technology EURO-ISDN and INTERNET WEB.
It is important to note that the environment so generated could also include regional servers, customised to language or to the regional education requirements that may be in effect. These servers will interoperate semantically with respect to the educational domain. In principle it will be possible and feasible to extend this interoperation to include where possible servers developed autonomously for other existing educational and cultural networks.
The system's capacity to finance itself is based prevalently on the encounter between demand of culture and capability of dissemination.
In the initial phase of the project it is necessary to predispose the embryonic element of the network and, therefore, construct contractual links between the various cultural service centres and activate their services in an experimental way. This direction cannot be omitted from structures capable of sustaining the initial payment of the system.
In the second phase when the interchangeable mechanisms of information have been edited, the political system launched and the exercise tariffs have been individualised (rent, service cost, locations and fees, etc.) through a correct and concrete market plan, the system will be able to proceed on its own account.
Taking into consideration the enormous contents of information, we believe that the volume of activities correlated with the cultural service centres cannot help but grow, consequently, feed itself new investments and new working opportunities.
This idea is even at the base of a combination of partners chosen, in which the cultural/institutional elements are evidenced and the industrial promoters, financiers and technological industrial elements are avant-garde on cultural context.
Considering the vast cultural patrimony existing in the European States and their actual state of accessibility, the dissemination and cultural promotional aspects of this patrimony assume a double value :

• collective European cultural growth and major cultural integration between European citizens;
• re proposal of the cultural sector in terms of professional work of new technologies and structures.

The Mosaic project feasibility study has been co-financed by the UE for the feasibility study. The UE Commission has already evaluated the project eligibility for the community aid.
MOSAIC Project is fully compliant with the TEN Telecom eligibility criteria as stated in the following documents and regulations:

• OJ L 228/1 1995:

• OJ L 183/12 1997:

Section II: Description of the Feasibility refinement and market validation phase