Marco Montanari

Software architect and researcher working where informatics meets the humanities: open historical geodata, digital archaeology, open knowledge and smart-city systems. Co-founder and President of Open History Map.

Research

Open History Map

An open, collaborative platform for historical and archaeological geodata, mapping the past through time and space. Running since 2014.

Digital archaeology & heritage

WebGIS for cultural heritage, contextualising 3D model archives, quantitative studies of Roman entertainment buildings, participatory public history.

Open knowledge

Wikipedia and wiki platforms in archaeology, Semantic MediaWiki data integration, open-data ecosystems and edutainment.

Smart cities & digital twins

City sensing from electric micromobility traces and interconnected urban networks through GlassBox digital twins, in collaboration with the University of Bologna.

Geo-aware AI

Semantic grounding for geospatial AI agents (GeoBard) and knowledge representation for historical data.

Papers 10 peer-reviewed

  1. 2025

    Interconnecting Urban Networks: A Novel Approach to Digital Twins Through GlassBox Adaptation

    Costagliola, A., Montanari, M., Bellavista, P. · Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems

    doi:10.5220/0013495100003953
  2. 2024

    Engaging the public: reviving history through the Social Simulacra model in participatory Public History projects

    Gigli, L., Montanari, M., Marsicano, L. · Archeologia e Calcolatori

    doi:10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.21
  3. 2024

    Entertainment buildings in the Roman empire: a quantitative approach

    Marsicano, L., Montanari, M. · Archeologia e Calcolatori

    doi:10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.07
  4. 2024

    Simplifying contextualization of 3D model archives in webGIS: 3DModelCommons

    Montanari, M., Marsicano, L. · Archeologia e Calcolatori

    doi:10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.27
  5. 2024

    Trace Analysis of Electric Micromobility and its Application for City Sensing

    Esposito, A., Ciabattini, L., Sciullo, L., Montanari, M., Bononi, L., Di Felice, M. · 2024 28th International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT)

    doi:10.1109/ds-rt62209.2024.00015
  6. 2022

    Open History Map – Status of the Project

    Montanari, M., Marsicano, L., Trojanis, R., Bernardoni, S., Gigli, L. · Archeomatica – Tecnologie per i Beni Culturali

    link
  7. 2021

    Participatory Models in Archaeology: Wiki and Open Access Platforms

    Marsicano, L., Montanari, M., Bezzi, L., Bezzi, A. · ArcheoFOSS XIII Workshop—Open Software, Hardware, Processes, Data and Formats in Archaeological Research

    doi:10.3390/environsciproc2021010012
  8. 2018

    GeoContext and CHContext: Geographic Information in Cultural Heritage

    Marsicano, L., Montanari, M. · The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences

    doi:10.5194/isprs-archives-xlii-4-w8-129-2018
  9. 2017

    Open History Map

    Bernardoni, S., Montanari, M., Trojanis, R. · Archeologia e Calcolatori

    doi:10.19282/ac.28.2.2017.44
  10. 2015

    Open History Map – A New Approach to Open Access for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

    Montanari, M., Trojanis, R., Bernardoni, S., Tepedino, L. · 2015 Digital Heritage

    doi:10.1109/digitalheritage.2015.7419557

Talks & media 17 items

  1. 2026

    Inside Board Game Publishing

    Montanari, M. · Zenodo

    doi:10.5281/zenodo.20310092
  2. 2026

    GeoBard: Semantic Grounding for Geo-Aware AI Agents

    Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.33095330
  3. 2025

    Tangible Revolutions @ CAST Firenze

    Montanari, M., Marsicano, L. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.28560527
  4. 2025

    Ecosistema Open

    Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.29534027
  5. 2025

    Semantic MediaWiki data description, transformation and integration

    Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.30093925
  6. 2024

    Open History Map - Mozilla Festival

    Montanari, M., Marsicano, L., Trojanis, R., Bernardoni, S. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24967590
  7. 2024

    Open History Map at SFSCon

    Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24967596
  8. 2024

    OHM Introduction at Archeofoss 2021

    Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24967668
  9. 2024

    Bologna 1115

    Marsicano, L., Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.25061984
  10. 2024

    Edutainment e Wikipedia

    Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.27897396
  11. 2024

    Strade, Cave e Teatri

    Montanari, M., Marsicano, L. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.28106933
  12. 2024

    Tangible Revolutions

    Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.28106945
  13. 2023

    Simplifying contextualization of 3D model archives in WebGIS: 3DModel Commons

    Montanari, M., Marsicano, L. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24793536
  14. 2023

    Engaging the Public: Reviving History Through the Social Simulacra Model in Participatory Public History Projects

    Montanari, M., Gigli, L., Marsicano, L. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24805974
  15. 2023

    Entertainment buildings in the roman empire: a quantitative approach

    Marsicano, L., Montanari, M. · figshare

    doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24806001
  16. 2022

    Towards Bradypus v5: Interconnecting the archaeological research

    Bogdani, J., Montanari, M. · Zenodo

    doi:10.5281/zenodo.7107339
  17. 2022

    Mappare il passato con dati aperti

    Montanari, M., Marsicano, L. · Zenodo

    doi:10.5281/zenodo.7128795

BibTeX

Download publications.bib 
@inproceedings{Montanari_2015, title={{Open History Map} -- A New Approach to Open Access for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2015.7419557}, DOI={10.1109/digitalheritage.2015.7419557}, booktitle={2015 Digital Heritage}, publisher={IEEE}, author={Montanari, Marco and Trojanis, Raffaele and Bernardoni, Silvia and Tepedino, Luca}, year={2015}, month=Sept, pages={479–480} }

@article{bernardoni_montanari_trojanis_2017, address={IT}, title={Open History Map}, volume={28}, ISSN={1120-6861, 2385-1953}, url={https://doi.org/10.19282/ac.28.2.2017.44}, DOI={10.19282/ac.28.2.2017.44}, abstractNote={OpenHistoryMap aspires to become the open source geographical system for archaeological information, both from an academic and an educational point of view. There are many fragmented online web-GIS experiences targeted at very specific projects, but no tool enables a broader overview of both research and studies. For these reasons, in order to create an Open Access platform, one of the most important aspects is the creation of tools that can facilitate both the sharing of archaeological spatial and temporal information as well as the easy reuse of the generated data. OpenHistoryMap is supposed to create a tool that is both a map of the archaeological world as well as a repository for the connected data within structured research papers. The project finds its roots first of all within the collective experience of ‘archaeology’ that refers to non-expert users, and in the second place within the academic scientific experience of research centres and universities. While the first approach gives an integrated and reliable picture of the cultural item, the second provides consistent and solid datasets with a perspective on the mixture of specific types of information.}, number={2}, journal={Archeologia e Calcolatori}, publisher={Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio s.a.s.}, author={Bernardoni, Silvia and Montanari, Marco and Trojanis, Raffaele}, year={2017}, pages={539–548}, keywords={multimedia and web tools; data dissemination and education} }

@article{Marsicano_2018, title={{GeoContext} and {CHContext}: Geographic Information in Cultural Heritage}, volume={XLII-4/W8}, ISSN={2194-9034}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W8-129-2018}, DOI={10.5194/isprs-archives-xlii-4-w8-129-2018}, journal={The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences}, publisher={Copernicus GmbH}, author={Marsicano, L. and Montanari, M.}, year={2018}, month=July, pages={129–132} }

@inproceedings{Marsicano_2021, series={ArcheoFOSS 2019}, title={Participatory Models in Archaeology: Wiki and Open Access Platforms}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2021010012}, DOI={10.3390/environsciproc2021010012}, booktitle={ArcheoFOSS XIII Workshop---Open Software, Hardware, Processes, Data and Formats in Archaeological Research}, publisher={MDPI}, author={Marsicano, Lucia and Montanari, Marco and Bezzi, Luca and Bezzi, Alessandro}, year={2021}, month=Nov, pages={12}, collection={ArcheoFOSS 2019} }

@article{gigli_montanari_marsicano_2024, address={IT}, title={Engaging the public: reviving history through the Social Simulacra model in participatory Public History projects}, volume={35}, ISSN={1120-6861, 2385-1953}, url={https://doi.org/10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.21}, DOI={10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.21}, abstractNote={Public history and participatory history initiatives are rapidly gaining momentum as they aim to democratize the historical narrative, involving communities and individuals in shaping their own historical experiences. This paper introduces a novel approach to these accomplishments by harnessing the power of the Social Simulacra Model. The model offers an innovative and participatory framework for public history projects, enabling individuals to actively engage with and contribute to historical narratives. By integrating the Social Simulacra Model into public history, this paper seeks to transform the traditional approach to historical storytelling. This model facilitates the creation of immersive, interactive historical simulations that enable participants to become part of the historical landscape. It fosters a deeper connection between individuals and the past by allowing them to take on roles, explore social dynamics, and make decisions within historical contexts. This paper also illustrates the potential of the Social Simulacra Model in enriching public history and participatory history projects by offering a new dimension of engagement and interaction with the past. It paves the way for a more inclusive, engaging, and participatory approach to historical storytelling, bridging the gap between academic history and public engagement.}, number={2}, journal={Archeologia e Calcolatori}, publisher={Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio s.a.s.}, author={Gigli, Lorenzo and Montanari, Marco and Marsicano, Lucia}, year={2024}, pages={197–202} }

@article{marsicano_montanari_2024, address={IT}, title={Entertainment buildings in the Roman empire: a quantitative approach}, volume={35}, ISSN={1120-6861, 2385-1953}, url={https://doi.org/10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.07}, DOI={10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.07}, abstractNote={The project features the creation of a webGIS containing heterogeneous data about entertainment buildings in the whole Roman Empire: stadiums, circuses, theaters, and amphitheaters. Information available in earlier studies have been integrated with more recent historical information, modern maps, and satellite data. This geo-database of the Roman structures gives access to information such as localization, name, country, if there are any archaeological remains and if the monument is still visible. The results of the presented work are useful to 1) analyze the relationship between buildings and surrounding lands, 2) perform advanced hypothesis about the accessibility to the structures or the role of these type of buildings in the urbanistic context, 3) understand relationship between entertainment and society and 4) identify concentrations of structures in certain regions. This research is mostly focused on the study of satellite images, published and historical sources. A substantial level of attention has been dedicated to the reusability and availability of the collected data.}, number={2}, journal={Archeologia e Calcolatori}, publisher={Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio s.a.s.}, author={Marsicano, Lucia and Montanari, Marco}, year={2024}, pages={55–62} }

@article{montanari_marsicano_2024, address={IT}, title={Simplifying contextualization of 3D model archives in webGIS: 3DModelCommons}, volume={35}, ISSN={1120-6861, 2385-1953}, url={https://doi.org/10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.27}, DOI={10.19282/ac.35.2.2024.27}, abstractNote={This paper presents a transformative approach that allows for the utilization of existing 3D models from diverse sources within a geographic context. It introduces the concept of external metadata, which describes these models, making them searchable, accessible, and seamlessly intergrated in webGIS environments using Three.js and MapLibre GL. This paper addresses the demand for the reuse of three-dimensional data representation in the geospatial domain and acknowledges the wealth of 3D models available from various sources. By introducing a standardized metadata schema, it establishes a structured framework for the incorporation of these models into webGIS systems. A central theme of this work is the development of a metadata standard that acts as a bridge between 3D models and webGIS environments granting it all information that can be used to correctly locate, scale and orient the models. It enables efficient searching, rendering, and utilization of these models within geographic contexts. Leveraging MapLibre GL JS and Three.js, the paper showcases how external metadata can significantly enhance the integration of 3D models into webGIS, thereby fostering a more versatile and comprehensive geospatial data exploration experience.}, number={2}, journal={Archeologia e Calcolatori}, publisher={Edizioni All’Insegna del Giglio s.a.s.}, author={Montanari, Marco and Marsicano, Lucia}, year={2024}, pages={255–262} }

@inproceedings{Esposito_2024, title={Trace Analysis of Electric Micromobility and its Application for City Sensing}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/DS-RT62209.2024.00015}, DOI={10.1109/ds-rt62209.2024.00015}, booktitle={2024 28th International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT)}, publisher={IEEE}, author={Esposito, Alfonso and Ciabattini, Leonardo and Sciullo, Luca and Montanari, Marco and Bononi, Luciano and Di Felice, Marco}, year={2024}, month=Oct, pages={34–41} }

@inproceedings{Costagliola_2025, title={Interconnecting Urban Networks: A Novel Approach to Digital Twins Through GlassBox Adaptation}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.5220/0013495100003953}, DOI={10.5220/0013495100003953}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems}, publisher={SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications}, author={Costagliola, Andrea and Montanari, Marco and Bellavista, Paolo}, year={2025}, pages={193–204} }

@misc{zenodo_7107339,
doi = {10.5281/ZENODO.7107339},
url = {https://zenodo.org/record/7107339},
author = {Bogdani, Julian and Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {digital archaeology, archaeological database, open source, archaeological information system, rest api},
language = {en},
title = {Towards Bradypus v5: Interconnecting the archaeological research},
publisher = {Zenodo},
year = {2022},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{zenodo_7128795,
doi = {10.5281/ZENODO.7128795},
url = {https://zenodo.org/record/7128795},
author = {Montanari, Marco and Marsicano, Lucia},
keywords = {digital humanities, dh, open data, open data sicilia},
language = {it},
title = {Mappare il passato con dati aperti},
publisher = {Zenodo},
year = {2022},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{zenodo_20310092,
doi = {10.5281/ZENODO.20310092},
url = {https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.20310092},
author = {Montanari, Marco},
language = {en},
title = {Inside Board Game Publishing},
publisher = {Zenodo},
year = {2026},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_24793536,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.24793536},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Simplifying_contextualization_of_3D_model_archives_in_WebGIS_3DModel_Commons/24793536},
author = {Montanari, Marco and Marsicano, Lucia},
keywords = {Digital heritage, Applications in arts and humanities},
title = {Simplifying contextualization of 3D model archives in WebGIS: 3DModel Commons},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2023},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_24805974,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.24805974},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Engaging_the_Public_Reviving_History_Through_the_Social_Simulacra_Model_in_Participatory_Public_History_Projects/24805974},
author = {Montanari, Marco and Gigli, Lorenzo and Marsicano, Lucia},
keywords = {Natural language processing, Speech production, Critical heritage, museum and archive studies},
title = {Engaging the Public: Reviving History Through the Social Simulacra Model in Participatory Public History Projects},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2023},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_24806001,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.24806001},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Entertainment_buildings_in_the_roman_empire_a_quantitative_approach/24806001},
author = {Marsicano, Lucia and Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Classical Greek and Roman history, Digital archaeology, Archaeological science},
title = {Entertainment buildings in the roman empire: a quantitative approach},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2023},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_24967590,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.24967590},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Open_History_Map_-_Mozilla_Festival/24967590},
author = {Montanari, Marco and Marsicano, Lucia and Trojanis, Raffaele and Bernardoni, Silvia},
keywords = {Digital heritage},
title = {Open History Map - Mozilla Festival},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2024},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_24967596,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.24967596},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Open_History_Map_at_SFSCon/24967596},
author = {Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Digital heritage, Digital history, Digital archaeology},
title = {Open History Map at SFSCon},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2024},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_24967668,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.24967668},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/media/OHM_Introduction_at_Archeofoss_2021/24967668},
author = {Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Digital history},
title = {OHM Introduction at Archeofoss 2021},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2024},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_25061984,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.25061984},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/media/Bologna_1115/25061984},
author = {Marsicano, Lucia and Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Digital heritage},
title = {Bologna 1115},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2024},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_27897396,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.27897396},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Edutainment_e_Wikipedia/27897396},
author = {Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Cartography and digital mapping},
title = {Edutainment e Wikipedia},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2024},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_28106933,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.28106933},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Strade_Cave_e_Teatri/28106933},
author = {Montanari, Marco and Marsicano, Lucia},
keywords = {Autonomous agents and multiagent systems, Modelling and simulation},
title = {Strade, Cave e Teatri},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2024},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_28106945,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.28106945},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Tangible_Revolutions/28106945},
author = {Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Applications in arts and humanities},
title = {Tangible Revolutions},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2024},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_28560527,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.28560527},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Tantible_Revolutions_CAST_Firenze/28560527},
author = {Montanari, Marco and Marsicano, Lucia},
keywords = {Historical studies not elsewhere classified},
title = {Tangible Revolutions @ CAST Firenze},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2025},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_29534027,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.29534027},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Ecosistema_Open/29534027},
author = {Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Spatial data and applications, Applied computing not elsewhere classified},
title = {Ecosistema Open},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2025},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_30093925,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.30093925},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Semantic_MediaWiki_data_description_transformation_and_integration/30093925},
author = {Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Data engineering and data science},
title = {Semantic MediaWiki data description, transformation and integration},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2025},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@misc{figshare_33095330,
doi = {10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.33095330},
url = {https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/_b_GeoBard_Semantic_Grounding_for_Geo-Aware_AI_Agents_b_/33095330},
author = {Montanari, Marco},
keywords = {Human-computer interaction},
title = {GeoBard: Semantic Grounding for Geo-Aware AI Agents},
publisher = {figshare},
year = {2026},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International}
}

@article{Montanari_2022_OHM_status,
  title={Open History Map -- Status of the Project},
  author={Montanari, Marco and Marsicano, Lucia and Trojanis, Raffaele and Bernardoni, Silvia and Gigli, Lorenzo},
  journal={Archeomatica -- Tecnologie per i Beni Culturali},
  year={2022},
  url={https://doaj.org/article/2909e2ca001340e2ac2f148ec88f5596},
  note={Web of Science WOS:000980750900004; no DOI}
}

About

M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Computer Science Engineering, University of Bologna. Developer at Laboratori Guglielmo Marconi (2009–2014) and Prometeia (2018–2019); co-founder and President of Open History Map since 2014. Wikipedia contributor since 2005, member of Mensa Italia. Interests: informatics, archaeology, software architecture, microservices, knowledge representation.