ABSTRACT
Digital technologies are transforming the ways in which we can engage with time, change, and growth in cities and buildings. The creation of animated maps, 3D reconstructions, and geographically referenced timelines allows us to model the evolution of a city and its buildings as continuous process, showing how urban and architectural space reflect social, economic, religious, and political changes. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book contains chapters by members of the Visualizing Venice team describing the variety of disciplines and analytical methods generated by the technologies we use: geographic information system (GIS) mapping and historical cartography, systems of content management, 3D images, video animations, prototyped models, and applications for mobile devices and the Web. Visualizing Venice was created as an ambitious multipart experiment that was intended to test how digital technologies might visualize the history of change in buildings and urban environments.
