RT3D stratigraphies: analysis and software design to manage data

The papers assembled in this volume spring from a larger conference held in association with the Rome Transformed Project. This project aims to use largely non-intrusive methods to understand the development of Rome over eight centuries (from the first to eight centuries CE). It explores 68 hectares of the city in an area that includes, alongside multiple other structures, a 1.5 km long tract of the Aurelian Walls and 0.67 kms of the Claudio-Neronian aqueduct. To achieve its goals, it integrates an extensive array of documentary sources, architectural analysis, and the investigation of 12 sub-surface excavated areas with the largest unified laser scanning and geophysical survey programme (the latter over an area of 12.5 hectares) ever conducted in Rome (I.P.Haynes, Introduction). The paper describes the designing of an efficient, flexible, and scalable working tool for the generation of Digital Terrain Models (DTM) across the time phases identified by the Rome Transformed project, starting from the stratigraphic data acquired through the project’s survey methods. In the absence of a software that fits the intended purpose, the team has developed a software solution, creating a tool able to manage stratigraphic data. The first generation of this tool is known as RT3D.