UF Data Base To Give Monumental Help Around The World

June 10, 1996

GAINESVILLE — Monuments around the world that have been damaged by war, neglect and pollution are the focus of restoration and preservation efforts through a data base developed at the University of Florida.

“These sites had to be of international historic and cultural significance and also had to be under some danger, such as the walled city of Dubrovinik, which is right in the middle of the fighting in Croatia,” said William Tilson, associate professor of architecture. “The World Monument Fund selected the top 100 most endangered sites and we assisted them in developing a visual data base that funding agencies around the world can access and use for information on restoration.”

Countries sent photographs, maps and information on monuments they wanted protected. The list was narrowed down to the 100 most endangered, and UF geoplanning graduate students spent three weeks scanning and digitizing the information into a data base.

“We scanned over 2,000 images and organized the data base, working 12 hours a day for about three weeks,” Tilson said. “We tried to make it a very visually appealing system.”

The information is now on an in-house data base for the World Monument Fund, and will be used for raising funds for restoration. This data base is planned to go on the World Wide Web within six months, making this information available to anyone interested in any aspect of these monuments.

“You can use this data base to see the surrounding geography, the damage to the monument, and what organization is in charge of the monument,” said Frank Chang, a geoplanning doctoral student who helped program the data base. “You can click on different parts of the monument and get artwork, maps and other information. In the future we would like to get some animation or live-action camera tours.”

These monuments have been damaged in different ways. Some have been in the middle of war sites, such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Others have been victims of neglect and decay, like the Taj Mahal in India, Pompeii in Italy, or the adobe missions in New Mexico.

“Researchers from all over world will have access to this information, with pictures of the site, maps, and other data available to them,” said John Alexander, director of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning’s GeoPlan Center. “This is very helpful because some of these sites, such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia, are virtually inaccessible.”

The data base will be used by the World Monument Fund, a private foundation which attracts funding through governments and international philanthropic groups, then gives money to the endangered sites to use for restoration. UF was selected to install the data base because of the combination of resources and expertise available.

“UF has a unique combination of expertise through the colleges of planning, architecture and landscaping, ” Tilson said. “All of these colleges have an interest in these sites. We also have a very high level of technological expertise. Few colleges have this combination.”