Open Data in Heritage Science

Issues in providing Open Data in Heritage Science

This site presents access to two example Heritage Science data sets that have been mapped to the CIDOC-CRM ontology and a few of the the related CIDOC models. They have both been formatted as RDF XML and uploaded to an open instance of the Blazegraph Triple Store, hosted on one of the National Galleries public research servers. SPARQL queries can be submitted using the GUI provided or direct queries can be submitted to the end-points using URLs with the following format:

https://END-POINT-URL?format=json&query=FULLESCAPEDSPARQLQUERY

A series of example SPARQL queries are presented, for data set one, to document how the datasets are organised and the various relationships that have been mapped to the CIDOC CRM. A simple default query is also presented, for both of the data sets, to allow new bespoke queries to be created. The queries pages are organised into two main sections; the SPARQL query on the left and the results, formatted as JSON, presented on the right. Three additional interaction options are also provided through the small icons in the upper right:

• - Re-format the results and present the defined relationships as a graphic model (see below).
• - A shareable link for the current query presentation webpage - including bespoke queries.
• - A direct shareable link to a simple json version of the results of the current query - including bespoke queries.

Data set 1: The Raphael Research Resource

In 2007 the Raphael Research Resource project began to examine how complex conservation, scientific and art historical research could be combined in a flexible digital form. Exploring the presentation of interrelated high resolution images and text, along with how the data could be stored in relation to an event driven ontology in the form of RDF triples. The original main user interface is still live and the data stored within the system is presented here in the form of open linkable data combined with a SPARQL end-point.

Data set 2: The Grounds Database

In 2018 the IPERION-CH Grounds Database was presented to examine how the data produced through the scientific examination of historic painting preparation or grounds samples, from multiple institutions could be combined in a flexible digital form. Exploring the presentation of interrelated high resolution images, text, complex metadata and procedural documentation. The original main user interface is live, though password protected at this time, and the data stored within the system is presented here in the form of open linkable data combined with a SPARQL end-point.

Data set 3: The SMK Grounds Database (Not searchable here)

The work carried out within T5.6 of SSHOC also provided technical support for the production of a new open version of the Grounds Database, with all of its content made re-usable under a defined creative-commons licences. A generous grant from The Samuel H. Kress Foundation for the project "The digitization of cross-sections from Italian and Dutch paintings" at The National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) enabled the digitization and analyses of cross-sections from a total of 158 Italian 14th to 17th C. and 17th C. Dutch paintings from the SMK collection to be made available in this open access art and technology research database on ground layers. With samples from the collections of Nationalmuseum Stockholm and Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød the database includes an additional 11 paintings. Effort within the SSHOC project re-formatted the provided data and enabled it to be presented within the IPERION-CH Grounds Database GUI. Further work was also carried out to open up this data to non specialists, allowing access to the same images via a simple keyword search option, though a Simple IIIF Discovery site, the development of which was supported by the AHRC funded Practical IIIF project, the SSHOC project and the H2020 IPERION HS project.

The Dynamic Modeller

Initially in response to restrictions imposed by COVID-19 a live, online, dynamic, modelling system was developed to facilitate the collaborative development of semantic models and flow diagrams within SSHOC, but also within other related research projects such as the Linked.Art project and the H2020 IPERION HS research project.​ This is an interactive modelling system which can automatically convert simple tab separated triples or JSON-LD into graphical models using the mermaid library. To improve the accessibility and understanding of these presented data sets the output of each of the SPARQL queries, including bespoke queries, can be automatically formatted and modelled using the dynamic modeller. This can be achieved by clicking on the small "eye" icon in the upper right corer of any of the SPARQL query pages.