Geographic Information Systems and Cultural Resources Management
GIS is a set of computerised tools used to collect, archive, manage, retrieve, analyse and output geographic and other related kinds of attribute data; it has great potential as a powerful tool for the management of heritage sites. Although the safeguarding of heritage has always been a central concern of UNESCO, the focus on the use of modern electronic and computer-based information technologies to support this work is a relatively new initiative.
This project, in creating capacity for GIS use in the culture profession, advances UNESCO’s global strategic objective of “promoting the drafting and implementation of standard setting instruments in the field of culture”. Within this global framework, it builds on the regional pillar of “localization and empowerment of the culture profession to develop and implement standards”.
UNESCO's Regional Office for Culture in Asia and the Pacific is increasingly using GIS as a tool in its projects. The aim of this website is to give an overview of GIS as a potentially powerful tool for cultural resources management. For details on how GIS is used within UNESCO's Asia-Pacific programmes, please visit the following projects' websites:
- Trafficking and HIV/AIDS Project
- Cultural Mapping
- Plain of Jars Tentative List Site, Lao PDR
- Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated Historic Towns World Heritage Site, Thailand
