An open source data management platform for the heritage field
What is Arches® ?
Arches is an open source software platform freely available for cultural heritage organizations to independently deploy to help them manage their cultural heritage data.
Arches Overview
Arches is a web-based, enterprise-level information management platform that is:
- Standards based
- Customizable
- Open Source
- Community driven
Arches Features
Arches features and capabilities include:
Data Discovery and Visualization
- Search
- Spatial Data and GIS
- Reports and Annotations
Data Management
- Data structure and storage
- Controlled Vocabularies
Project and Task Management
- Workflows
Arches Demo
The Arches demonstration site has been created so those interested can get hands-on experience with the platform.
- Test functionality
- Check out software improvements
- Demonstrate proof of concept
Community Forum
Meet the community and get answers to your questions.
Join the discussion »
Documentation
Support for Arches installation and configuration
Read more here »
Arches Bulletins
Learn about the latest Arches news in our bi-monthly bulletin
Sign up for the Bulletin »
Who is Using Arches?
Organizations worldwide have deployed Arches. The following are a few examples:
Jamaica National Inventory of Historic Places
Arches has been deployed for the Jamaica National Inventory of Historic Places, with emphasis on community nominations of significant sites. It is the result of cooperation between the Jamaica Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and the Organization of American States.
Nepal Heritage Documentation Project (NHDP)
NHDP documents the historical monuments and objects spread across the Kathmandu Valley. It has deployed Arches as the Digital Archive of Nepalese Arts and Monuments (DANAM).
Lincoln Historic Environment Record (HER)
The City of Lincoln, UK, has implemented Arches as its Historic Environment Record (HER), known as ARCADE. ARCADE is a publicly-accessible and powerful system to inventory, map, describe, and help protect Lincoln’s rich cultural heritage, which spans from Roman times to the present.
Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA)
The EAMENA project based at Oxford University is using Arches to record archaeological sites and landscapes under threat across the 20 country MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.
HistoricPlacesLA (HPLA)
The City of Los Angeles has deployed Arches as HistoricPlacesLA, the official Los Angeles Historic Resources Inventory, to serve both as a tool to fulfill its obligations under federal, state, and local historic preservation laws and to make information publicly accessible.
Heritage Geoportal of Cantón Nabón, Ecuador
The Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), the Universidad del Azuay (Ecuador) and Ecuador’s National Institute of Cultural Heritage (INPC) have implemented Arches for management of cultural and natural heritage of Cantón Nabón, a rural area of the Ecuadorian highlands.