It is now possible to know in detail the pieces of the mosaic pavements of the Archaeological Ensemble of Italica, in Santiponce (Seville), thanks to the digitalisation of these elements, which can be seen in three dimensions through the ‘Sketchfab’ platform. The Department of Tourism, Culture, and Sport of the Government of Andalusia has launched a programme of photogrammetry of the collection of mosaics of the Italian city, which involves, as explained by technicians, the production of photographic reports of each pavement, with an average of 200 images per piece in different overlapping planes.
With this digitisation initiative, with which Italica joins prestigious international museum institutions that have opted for the development of repositories of 3D models of their collections, the physical boundaries of the physical visit to the cultural space are crossed by making it possible to explore this collection of Roman mosaics on any electronic device (smartphone, tablet or computer), interacting freely and with no impact on the preservation of the archaeological remains, contributing to the dissemination of cultural heritage.
This digital repository will also serve as documentation to support the conservation work of these assets, as its current state is recorded in three dimensions. It is also an essential tool for researchers, who can not only consult them through the platform but also download the 3D models (under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence) to be used as sources of information for future research.
The collection of Roman mosaics through 3D digital models will also be available for educational use as schools will be able to download and print to scale on 3D printers.
