Geographical information systems as a tool for 3D visualization of lost architectural heritage

Abstract

Existing architectural heritage provides information about the architectural and urban characteristics of the civilizations that built them.Their surviving façade compositions, plan organizations, structural and material elements, give clues about various architectural andurban characteristics of these buildings and the periods that they belong to. In the case of lost architectural heritage, it is challengingto know more about these attributes due to the fact that the accessible information about these buildings could be limited. At this point,cartographic and photographic resources provide valuable information about lost architectural heritage. In addition to their geographiclocations, information about their dimensions, structural systems, material finishes, colours could be some of the information that canbe collected through cartographic and photographic historic documents.This paper presents a summary of the methodological approach of using Geographical Information System (GIS) for 3D visualizationof lost architectural heritage in the case of Izmir - Turkey, by using 1905 fire insurance plans of Charles E. Goad.