Sandcastle

A malleable 3D mapping system for pre-modern maps and views

What is the Sandcastle Workflow?

Outputs from "the Sandcastle workflow" includes both a technical workflow to help scholars create 3-D visualizations of premodern maps and views, as well as a research workflow that includes annotated bibliographies and a database of premodern maps and views.

Inspiration for the Sandcastle Project

This project was inspired by previous work on "The Book of Fortresses" as well as research focused on chorographic views of London and Lisbon.

Database of premodern city views

Beginning in the summer of 2020, our team began collecting premodern "maps" that have been described using the following terms: Chorographies, Views (Incl. Oblique, Bird's-eye, Perspective, Landscape), Prospects, Profiles, Portraits, Panoramas. We collected our findings in an Airtable database.

How did we annotate these chorographic views?

The Sandcastle Annotation process can be broken down into 4 main steps - create labels, outline a façade, assign the façade to tags, and link associated facades together.