Urban Chameleon: A Digital Platform for INDIGO Project
Urban Chameleon serves as the public-facing digital platform for Project INDIGO, a two-year research initiative funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences to systematically document and analyse graffiti along Vienna's Danube Canal. As part of the project team, I developed this web platform to make the research accessible to both academic users and the general public.
Project INDIGO aims to document approximately 13 kilometres of continuous graffiti along the Danube Canal over the next decade. The research treats graffiti as a form of cultural heritage that balances between tangible and intangible, examining how these urban expressions reflect societal thoughts and artistic practices. My role involved creating the digital infrastructure that would house and present this extensive documentation work.
Research Context and Collaboration
The INDIGO project brings together multiple research institutions including the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, TU Wien, and VRVis, along with community partners like Spray City. This interdisciplinary approach combines archaeological documentation methods, geospatial analysis, and community engagement to create a comprehensive record of graffiti culture along the canal.
Working within this research framework, I needed to design a platform that could accommodate the project's systematic documentation approach whilst remaining accessible to diverse user groups. The challenge involved translating academic research goals into practical digital tools that could serve both scholarly analysis and public engagement.
Fig. 1: Development workflow adapting agile methodology for archaeological research requirements
Technical Implementation
The platform needed to handle the project's extensive data collection, including regular photographic documentation, spatial database management, and metadata organisation covering style classifications, artist pseudonyms, and creation dates. I built the system using Next.js and TypeScript to ensure scalability as the dataset grows over the project's timeline.
Integration with OpenAtlas provides the spatial database functionality required for managing the complex relationships within graffiti documentation. The platform includes features for virtual exploration of the canal route and temporal analysis showing how graffiti changes over time. These tools support both research queries and public education about graffiti culture.
Performance considerations proved important given the high-resolution imagery and extensive spatial data involved. The platform processes regular photo documentation and manages metadata whilst maintaining responsive performance across different devices and connection speeds.
Fig. 2: Research methodology integrating regular documentation with graffiti community input
Community Engagement Features
Following Project INDIGO's commitment to community involvement, the platform includes features that enable graffiti creators and scholars to contribute to documentation accuracy. Users can report new graffiti through online forms and contribute contextual information about documented works.
This collaborative approach addresses one of the project's key goals: ensuring that documentation represents graffiti culture authentically rather than imposing external interpretations. The platform provides space for artists to explain their work and for community members to contribute local knowledge about specific locations or artistic practices.
The design balances research requirements with accessibility, offering guided exploration paths for casual users alongside detailed search and analysis tools for academic researchers. This dual functionality supports the project's aim to build bridges between academic research and public understanding.
Fig. 3: User interface designed to accommodate both research tools and public exploration
Documentation Standards and Preservation
Working within Project INDIGO's framework required implementing documentation standards that ensure long-term data preservation and accessibility. The platform connects to certified repositories that guarantee digital longevity and enable free data download, supporting the project's commitment to open research.
The systematic approach involves regular photographic visits to document changes along the canal route. This temporal documentation creates a unique record of how graffiti evolves, with works appearing, changing, and disappearing over time. The platform's temporal analysis features allow users to explore these changes and understand graffiti's ephemeral nature.
Research Applications and Impact
The platform supports various research applications within Project INDIGO's framework. Scholars use the spatial and temporal analysis tools to study graffiti distribution patterns, artistic style evolution, and social aspects of urban expression. The systematic documentation approach enables longitudinal studies that weren't previously possible with ad-hoc graffiti research.
Educational applications have emerged as teachers and museum educators use the platform to introduce students to concepts of cultural heritage, urban archaeology, and digital documentation methods. The platform demonstrates how contemporary cultural practices can be studied using systematic research approaches.
Project Integration and Future Development
Urban Chameleon functions as one component within Project INDIGO's broader research infrastructure. The platform connects with other project outputs including academic publications, conference presentations, and the graffiti literature database. This integration ensures that digital tools support rather than replace traditional research communication.
Future development follows Project INDIGO's timeline, with planned enhancements including expanded coverage areas, improved community contribution features, and enhanced analysis tools. The platform's modular design enables these additions whilst maintaining system stability and user accessibility.
Reflection on Digital Research Tools
Developing Urban Chameleon within Project INDIGO's research framework highlighted how digital platforms can support systematic cultural documentation whilst remaining accessible to diverse audiences. The platform demonstrates that academic research tools don't need to compromise user experience or community engagement.
The project reinforced the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in digital humanities work. Combining archaeological methodology, geospatial analysis, community engagement, and web development creates research infrastructure that individual disciplines couldn't achieve independently.
Most importantly, the work shows how digital tools can support community-based research that respects both scholarly standards and cultural authenticity. When designed collaboratively, these platforms can strengthen connections between academic research and the communities being studied.
Project context: Part of two-year INDIGO research project (Austrian Academy of Sciences) Development period: Two months intensive development Technical framework: Next.js, TypeScript, SCSS, OpenAtlas integration Research scope: 13km systematic documentation along Vienna's Danube Canal