CAA2016

Ensuring cultural heritage data longevity with the Arches Heritage Inventory and Management System

Annabel Lee Enriquez, Alison Dalgity, David Myers

Abstract
A joint project of the Getty Conservation Institute and the World Monuments Fund, the Arches Heritage Inventory and Management System is an open source web-based geospatially enabled platform purpose built to inventory and manage immovable cultural heritage. Developed in direct response to the needs of both cultural heritage organizations worldwide as well as to the complex requirements of cultural heritage data, Arches incorporates concepts and features that help to ensure data quality and longevity. First, Arches integrates two CIDOC standards, the CIDOC-CRM (Conceptual Reference Model [ISO 21127:2006]) and the draft CIDOC International Core Data Standard for Archaeological and Architectural Heritage in order to optimize its data model and structure to be as generic and widely-applicable as possible, as well as generate standards-based self-describing data. By doing these things, Arches promotes data interoperability and portability; in other words, the data housed in the system is structured to actually outlive it. Second, Arches is able to accommodate the myriad ways in which cultural heritage data is recorded. The platform can accommodate multiple attributes and attribute values, grouped temporally, spatially, and thematically with relationships defined between various resources. This flexibility enables all data recorded throughout the lifespan of a cultural heritage resource to be maintained within the system. Third, the project adopted an open source development model using a license for free use with the intention that the Arches open source development community would sustain and improve upon the platform for as long as the system is viable. This allows heritage organizations to implement and develop their own Arches instance as economically as possible and with as much control over their system for as long as needed. In these three ways, combined with an easy to understand yet powerful interface, Arches promotes the longevity and quality of inventory data about cultural heritage places.