The Digital Memory of Palmyra –

Christine Schranz essay focuses on both the potential and influence that maps and mapping strategies have in a time of political and geopolitical crisis, disaster, and wars, particularly in the Middle East and in Syria in specific. The conflicts in the Middle East have notably demonstrated the Internet's importance for information gathering and sharing, as well as surveillance and intimidation. The use of maps, satellite images, photos, or other open data collected from the Internet may help to monitor, secure, rebuild, and to restore cultural objects in war-torn regions in times at which physical access has become dangerous or impossible, and where cultural heritage has been lost through terrorist acts. Examples of such open databases include ASOR's Cultural Heritage Initiatives or 3D models of damaged architectures of the ancient city of Palmyra. The following examples and strategies discuss different uses of data, whether it be capture, production, or data mining and management.