The D4A digitiser

摘要

The aim of the pilot-project "Digital Access to Aero- and Astrophotographic Archives -D4A" is to preserve the historic-scientific information contained in the aerial photographic archives of the National Geographical Institute and the Royal Museum of Central Africa, and in the astrophotographic plate archive of the Royal Observatory of Belgium. In collaboration with the astronomical institutes of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Universiteit Antwerpen, and AGFA-Gevaert, a world-leader in photographic matters, the goal is to acquire the necessary know-how, hardware and software to digitise the information contained in the photographic plates, as well as the associated metadata. The project set out to offer the results to the public and to make them directly usable for scientific research through the modern techniques of the information society. A digital catalogue is under construction as well as an air-bearing digitiser of high geometric and radiometric resolution and precision. This digitiser will be housed in a temperature and humidity stabilised clean room with adjacent archive room.