MONUMENT DAMAGE INFORMATION SYSTEM (MONDIS): AN ONTOLOGICAL APPROACH TO CULTURAL HERITAGE DOCUMENTATION

Abstract. Deriving from the complex nature of cultural heritage conservation it is the need for enhancing a systematic but flexible organization of expert knowledge in the field. Such organization should address comprehensively the interrelations and complementariness among the different factors that come into play in the understanding of diagnostic and intervention problems. The purpose of MONDIS is to endorse this kind of organization. The approach consists in applying an ontological representation to the field of heritage conservation in order to establish an appropriate processing of data. The system allows replicating in a computer readable form the basic dependence among factors influencing the description, diagnosis and intervention of damages to immovable objects. More specifically MONDIS allows to input and search entries concerning object description, structural evolution, location characteristics and risk, component, material properties, surveys and measurements, damage typology, damage triggering events and possible interventions. The system supports searching features typical of standard databases, as it allows for the digitalization of a wide range of information including professional reports, books, articles and scientific papers. It also allows for computer aided retrieval of information tailored to user's requirements. The foreseen outputs will include a web user interface and a mobile application for visual inspection purposes.