Geo-visualisation applied to archival heritage: a transversal interpretation of historical architectural projects

Abstract

The Historical Municipal Archive of Cadiz preserves a significant collection of documents that has been created by the Town Hall since 1596, the year in which the city was sacked by Anglo-Dutch troops and all previous documents were lost. The collection includes a series of plans and façade elevations of the various architectural interventions carried out on the city’s buildings in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Currently, the archive lacks a flexible and systematised digital tool that would enable swift access to this very interesting graphic documentation. Subsequent to having first corrected the errors in the catalogue and having selected the relevant information to be highlighted, the research carried out focuses on the analysis of all the surviving graphic documents and the creation of a digital database. With the help of this new database, all the preserved plans are inserted into a digital urban cartography and georeferenced with the highlighted information in a GIS tool. In this way, accessibility to the information and consultation of the collection has been improved. Lastly, the GIS tool has enabled us to carry out various quantitative analyses with spatial georeferencing of the architectural projects received in several categories, including those of architects, periods of execution, type of architectural intervention, buildings with the highest number of interventions, and neighbourhoods with the most projects. These analyses shed light on the evolution and architectural development of the city in the period under study. © 2025 University of L'Aquila, Department of Civil Construction, Building and Architecture, Environmental Engineering. All rights reserved.