The importance of 3D in cultural heritage is continuously increasing, as are the technological possibilities in that matter. The current situation in the 3D sector shows that widely accepted standards and ‘best practices’ are still missing. As diverse as the software to create 3D models are the data formats that are commonly used an this adds to the complexity of sharing and embedding. Another problem is the size of 3D files. 3D content often originates from multiple datasets with separate files, rendered to a functioning model. Rendering this complex model requires a highspeed connectivity that a standard internet user seldom has. In addition there are many other technological, ethical and legal barriers to overcome.
Recommendations on the 3D digitisation of natural history content are provided by the DiSSCo and Synthesis+ initiatives.
Europeana established a 3D task force in 2019 to enhance the dissemination of 3D content for education, research and creative industries via Europeana. The aim of the task force is to provide guidance for data providers and aggregators on how to create and publish 3D content. The findings of the Europeana 3D task force are presented in a task force report, which launched a year later in 2020. The following paragraphs aim to summarize the outcome of the report, and provide an overview on what to think about when creating 3D content.
In 2025 a new EDM profile for 3D content was launched. It aims to help cultural heritage institutions provide 3D content in a standardised way and promotes interoperability and reusability. The profile and connected alterations to EDM will be explained below.
- Different types of 3D objects
- 3D content in Europeana – General specifications
- 2025 EDM profile for 3D content
- oEmbed protocol for embeddable resources
- Twin It! – 3D for Europe’s culture
- 3D Models and Rights Management
- Additional Material
Different types of 3D objects
There are various different types of 3D objects Europeana is collecting and that can influence the way the digital data has to be described. Among the different 3D types count:
- 3D content generated from images and measurements of real-world cultural heritage objects captured via instruments (e.g. representation of current condition of vase or building etc.)
- 3D Visualisations and virtual representations generated from a range of sources (e.g. reconstruction based on real-world measurements, simulation modelling projects etc.)
- 3D models for building management and design purposes (e.g. HBIM – historical building information modelling)
- 3D models for games – e.g. based on real-world objects
- 3D works of art
3D content in Europeana – General specifications
The following paragraph is taken from the task force report, p. 38 and describes what needs to be considered when aiming to publish 3D content in Europeana.
Europeana does not host content. New content is signposted in Europeana by the inclusion of a metadata record. The metadata record provided should point to 3D content where it can be accessed online. It is recommended that the metadata provided to Europeana should:
- Conform to the mandatory requirements for EDM.
- Include a clear description of what is represented in the 3D content so users can
distinguish between a representation of an object in its current condition, a virtual
reconstruction and other types of 3D. - Provide an account of the digital provenance of the 3D content so that users can
understand the context in which the content was created, the methods and processes
used, and the research/interpretation that has been carried out in creating the content. - Conform to recommendations for good metadata quality including the use of controlled
vocabularies, Linked Open Data resources and authority files, and language labelling
of the metadata to improve retrieval.
To sum this up, Europeana needs you to conform to certain standards while describing your 3D objects:
- provide discovery and access to the model (direct link to object in viewer)
- always make sure to provide a clear description to distinguish between the different kinds of 3D objects
- provide information on how your content was created (technique, software, methods, project information etc.)
- stick to good metadata quality (vocabularies, language tags, etc.)
- Accepted data formats: gLTF, X3D, OBJ, PLY, STL, DAE, WRL, DICOM, IFC
- Preview 2D image of the cultural heritage object for Europeana preview
2025 EDM profile for 3D content
Providing 3D content to the European Data Space of Cultural Heritage (DS4CH) should follow certains steps to enhance data quality and reusability while contributing to the evaluation and validation of the 3D profile. These steps shall be explained shortly. You can visit the Europeana Knowledge Base for more information.
Every EDM record still has to follow the EDM mapping guidelines. For 3D content there are mainly additions in the edm:WebResource class and the ore:Aggregation class. The full definition of the EDM profile for 3D content is available here.
Guidelines for 3D content
- Provision of a URL to an embedabble viewer
- the isShownBy link must be compliant to the oEmbed protocol to be embedded in Europeana
- Provision of a thumbnail for the 3D object
- Europeana cannot generate a preview image out of the 3D object, therefore it is recommend to provide a thumbnail
- Provision of a direct link to the 3D model
- Indicated intended use of the 3D digitisation
- for this purpose the edm:intendedUsage property can be used. The possible terms are part of a new vocabulary.
There are optional additions that can be used, adding information about the digital source, the model type or other data about the model. For that purpose, Europeana created new controlled vocabularies.
oEmbed protocol for embeddable resources
To streamline the provision of embeddable resources (e.g. 3D models), Europeana implemented an EDM profile that utilises oEmbed. OEmbed is a standard for facilitating the embedding of content from one website on platforms like Europeana. There are now a few additional requirements for EDM metadata that you have to think about when wanting to display 3D models on Europeana.
When you want to embed a particular piece of content from a platform that supports oEmbed, you send a request to the oEmbed endpoint with the URL of the resource you wish to embed. An oEmbed endpoint is a URL that enables other websites to retrieve information about a specific content item using the oEmbed format. For example, if you wish to embed a Flickr image, Flickr’s oEmbed endpoint takes the image’s URL and returns the appropriate embed code that you can use on your website.
Twin It! – 3D for Europe’s culture
TwinIt! is a European campaign that was launched in 2023 and aims to enhance 3D digitization of tangible and intangible cultural heritage objects. The main focus is the question of preserving those assets highly at risk due to various reasons like war or natural degredation.
TwinIt! asked all European member states to send in one 3D digitized asset of their choice that matched specific prerequisites. If you want to learn more about the project and its goals and scope, read our news post or visit Europeana.
Right now, the different 3D assets of the member states are already available at the Europeana gallery TwinIt! A pan-European collection of heritage 3D models.
*** UPDATE ***
Twin It! starts into the next round! In June 2025, Europeana launched Twin It! Part II. The goals are to further drive the digitisation process Europe-wide, encourage the creation of new application scenarios for reuse and build capacity towards 3D digitisation. Member States are asked to submit at least one high-quality 3D-digitised heritage asset with
- a clear specification on how to reuse this object
- additional metadata describing the 3D model
- open licences suitable for reuse (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA)
Read more about Part II in the concerning news post or visit Europeana.
3D Models and Rights Management
In 2024 Europeana commissioned a study to support the provision of 3D content to Europeana.eu in line with the recommendation on a common European data space for cultural heritage. The study was published in August 2024 and you can find an overview on the findings here.
Click here to download the study.
Additional Material
More information about the Europeana specifications can be found in the task force report.