Heritage Building Information Modelling for Implementing UNESCO Procedures

Book excerpt: The main aim of this book is to develop and explore the value of new innovative digital content to help satisfy UNESCO’s World Heritage nomination file requirements. Through a detailed exploration of two BIM case studies from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the book uniquely connects the use of Heritage BIM to the documentation methods used by UNESCO and demonstrates how this provides a contribution to both countries with heritage sites and UNESCO as an organisation. The research and practical examples in the book seek to address both the lack of a comprehensive method of submitting a nomination file to UNESCO and the lack of authentic engineering information in countries where extensive heritage sites exist. It looks at answering the following questions: How can Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) be used to better maintain, protect, and record the updated information of historical buildings? How can HBIM provide innovation in creating the missing information for the assignment of UNESCO's World Heritage status? What additional value can a sustainable update of HBIM data provide for such sites? How can HBIM improve the cultural value of heritage buildings in the short, medium, and long term, as well as provide a better future for historical buildings? This book will be useful reading for researchers and practitioners in the areas of heritage conservation, archaeology, World Heritage nomination, HBIM, digital technology and engineering, remote sensing, laser scanning, and architectural technology.