At the outset of the Caere Project the decision was taken to create both a GIS application for internal use and a separate dynamic GIS multimedia application for data diffusion across the Internet. The on-line publication of the GIS offers the chance to create a living document and marks the first step forward towards the standardisation of a metalanguage, that will permit effective multimedia communication, the exchange of different data formats and sources, and the distribution of data and results to a wider community.


The main focus of the Caere Project has been to provide an application to enable the user to dynamically take advantage of GIS capabilities through the Internet. The intention is to enable user interaction by offering the possibility of querying the excavation plans at any scale, starting either from the cartographic data or the textual information contained in the excavation diaries.



The architecture of the on-line GIS


The system has a client-server architecture that also requires middleware - a program that sends the processed data from the server to a client for whom no processing is necessary. The system was initially developed for use on an intranet, providing access only to the archaeologists working on the project. For the provision of an on-line GIS, the use of the software package MapGuide 5 (®Autodesk) has been planned. This environment is composed of three distinct elements: the Map Guide Server, Author and Viewer (®).