3D Data Long-Term Preservation in Cultural Heritage

In digital heritage, effective management and preservation of digital data are crucial. Issues such as file corruption, media obsolescence, and inadequate metadata must be addressed, alongside data migration when software becomes outdated and thorough data curation to aid current and future researchers in searching, citing, and reusing historical data. Merely archiving or backing up project data is not enough for long-term preservation. It is essential to ensure that primary data remain reusable, compatible with evolving operating systems, and accompanied by comprehensive metadata detailing their creation and history [1]. Despite the advantage of heritage datasets being "born digital," they are still susceptible to loss if file associations and metadata are not properly maintained. The large volume of data generated from digital projects and the often limited understanding of file associations among project members jeopardise the future reuse of archaeological data if not well-organised or curated. Enhancing workflows to include both metadata authorship and preservation is vital to prevent information loss and digital data obsolescence. Particularly, the long-term preservation of 3D datasets requires maintaining each file in a usable and uncorrupted state. Files undergo several modifications, changing formats during the creation of the final scan or 3D model, known as an asset.