Smart Cartography to know the Cultural Heritage of the Historical Center of Naples

Abstract The cultural heritage of the city of Naples is largely preserved in the urban palimpsest of its historic center which, as a large archive, preserves the memories and traces of millennia, as evidenced by the recent archaeological findings brought to light during the new metro line excavations. The dialogue between the places of the historical and the modern landscape results into the interpretation of the complex stratification of the urban fabric. It is possible to understand the history of the urban landscape transformations through the study of the rich iconographic and cartographic heritage preserved. But the complex interpretation of the historical stratification of the urban landscape, achievement of a creative process that has repeatedly been renewed over the centuries, currently needs new and more up-to-date tools capable of representing the geographical space in its entirety. In this perspective, the Geographic Information System (GIS) lends itself well to the dynamic and digital description of geographical space. The Smart Cartography, returned by GIS systems, can replace in an innovative way the traditional paper cartographies, manipulating the geometry of the data, by relating them to each other, georeferencing them and creating easy-to-access information flows from multiple users. The GIS, therefore, well suited as a tool for the projects implementation, aimed at the knowledge and enhancement of cultural heritage.