The Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione (CNR-ISTI) is located in Pisa and mostly devoted to research on ICT, with several major application domains which include Cultural Heritage. Several collaborations are currently under way with first-rank academic and industrial partners in projects financed by the EU and other sources. ISTI will contribute to Ariadne with two laboratories:
The Visual Computing Lab (VCLab), one of the research departments of CNR-ISTI, has been active in visualisation and computer graphics since 1984; it is now composed of around 20 members. Current research focuses on the design of 3D digitisation/scanning, geometric data processing, visualization systems, efficient multi-resolution representation and rendering of huge datasets and 3D Web Applications. VCLab has a long track record in the use of 3D graphics for Cultural Heritage applications, with important collaborations with CH institutions at national and international level (museums, restoration labs, governing bodies). VCLab has participated in a number of EU and national projects. Among others, are EC “ViHAP-3D”, EC NoE “EPOCH”, EC IP “3D-COFORM”, EC “V-City” and EC NoE “V-MUST.Net”, all of them related to CH applications and a large number of smaller projects focusing on specific monuments or artworks. VCLab activity is presented on: http://vcg.isti.cnr.it/.
The Networked Multimedia Information Lab (NeMIS) main objective is the research and development of technologies for the management, distribution and fruition of multimedia information. The main research areas are:
- Next-generation digital libraries,
- Multimedia Content Access,
- Enhancement and Management,
- Advanced Information Retrieval.
Research activities are directed towards:
- distributed digital libraries infrastructures,
- multimedia similarity search,
- digital preservation,
- automatic text and image categorization,
- cross-language information access,
- ontology management and interoperability.
NeMIS Lab has been involved in numerous European, national and industrial projects. The European projects in which the lab is currently involved are: VENUS-C, D4Science II, Europeana v2.0, eCloud, Presto4U, PRELIDA, ARIADNE, HOPE, EFG, OpenAIRE, GRIDI2020, DL.org. NeMIS activity is presented on: http://nemis.isti.cnr.it/
The Institute of Technologies Applied to the Cultural Heritage (CNR-ITABC) is located in Montelibretti (Rome); since 1981 CNR-ITABC is a centre of excellence in the field of the advanced researches and technologies applied to Cultural Heritage. In particular, it is involved in several areas from Geophysical Prospecting to DVR applications for CH. A key role in the scientific activity of CNR-ITABC is represented by the Virtual Heritage Lab, whose research is focused on digital projects, with a specific expertise in Virtual Heritage content development and VR applications, dedicated to museums and territories. ITABC is currently the coordinator of the EC NoE “V-MUST.net”. The lab has developed several Desktop VR applications in intra-site and in inter-sites contexts. Different techniques are used (digital surveying, data processing and spatial analysis, sites and landscape reconstructions) to obtain real-time interactive VR environments. The team’s work is focused on two research aspects: geo-spatial 3d component of cultural information and communication; on-line VR sharing (VR cooperative environments) and dissemination (VR webGIS). The team has developed 2D and 3D tools for CH, following an open source approach, specifically directed to: ancient landscapes reconstruction and 3D exploration (see: www.vhlab.itabc.cnr.it).
Website: ISTI