Underground waterways revealed by the surface landscape. A BIM-GIS approach for the gardens of the Palace of Portici

The paper presents an integrated historical BIM-GIS prototype for storing heterogeneous data and managing multi-source information from urban to architectural scale. The object of the study is the landscape-architectural system of the Royal Site of Portici, whose current configuration is strongly related to the events and transformations that have affected it, altering its original form and appearance. A multi-scale investigation was conducted, starting with the integrated digital survey of the areas of greatest significance and a cross-sectional analysis of cartographic and iconographic documents. It has allowed for the expansion of the spatial comprehension of the site, employing dynamic and interactive models for the digital visualization of the historical additions directly related to the capillary water supply network of the system in the park’s underground. The presented proposal is characterized by the definition of a methodological protocol for structuring, populating, and accessing the information of a digital GIS-BIM environment whose collection and systematization process of heterogeneous data stimulates a better understanding of garden architecture, expanding its communicative-experiential impact