Temple site at Phimai: modeling for the scholar and the tourist

An accurate representation of an archaeological site depends on the quality and completeness of the archaeological data. It should not be driven by the desire to demonstrate advanced graphic techniques. This paper expands the discussion of methods for modeling significant archaeological sites to include the limitations of data, data interpretation, application software, and hardware and display devices. As illustration, the computer reconstruction of the temple site in Phimai, Thailand will serve as a specific case study to highlight many of the issues faced during an architectural reconstruction project. Issues of time, scale, geometric representation of form, and image resolution of surface detail will be discussed. A second goal is to consider the needs of government departments, ministries and museums to promote tourism and stimulate museum attendance. Finally, some recommendations will be given to enhance the communication process between computer modelers and archaeologists that may help guide future efforts.