EVALUATION OF THE PRESERVATION STATE OF HISTORICAL PENINSULA IN ISTANBUL BASED ON GEOSPATIAL DATA

Abstract. Inventory Project for the Cultural Assets of Istanbul (2015–2019) revealed that there are approximately 35000 historical and cultural assets in Istanbul due to its history with regards to being homeland and capital of many different civilizations. Historical Peninsula (Fatih district) which also contains four World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO has 30% of the total registered historical assets inventory in Istanbul. Throughout the inventory project for the cultural assets of Istanbul, huge amount of data was collected by site-work with their spatial references. Cultural assets’ database was related with the spatial data on GIS software and it will serve as a tool for various analyses in order to understand and evaluate the situation. Essentially 11 analyses were generated from inquirable geospatial data for Historical Peninsula of Istanbul. Geospatial data is constituted of approximately 140 distinct data-type including location, architectural description, conservation state, materials or cultural era that can be useful for different analyses and also cross-examine such as non-functional assets on public property or structural state of assets which require an urgent intervention. In addition, specific thematic maps and different routes for touristic and cultural purposes can be produced on GIS platforms, based on this study. In this paper, these mentioned studies of the Inventory Project of Istanbul will be described in detail and several case studies generated for the Historical Peninsula will be presented. It is aimed to define a data processing methodology created for cultural heritage by using GIS platforms in order to be evaluated in further projects.