Our research addresses issues raised by the development of visualisation and modelling techniques on the Internet for documenting and representing edifices of the architectural heritage. In this research area, the word “visualisation” is often given a misleading interpretation, this of a synonym of “virtual reconstruction”. We present another interpretation of the word by thinking of 3D visualisations as of graphical interfaces to an architectural documentation. We consider 3D models as interpretations of a knowledge, and we try to demonstrate that they can be efficient in retrieving information (i.e., documentation) about evolutions of architectural artefacts.
We propose to discuss the key aspects of our development: theoretical model of the architectural concepts we are documenting, representation mechanism in VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language), database interfacing issues, use of 3D models in the querying and in the retrieving of information. Our contribution details those aspects and the experiment we are carrying out in Kraków.