Development team wins prize with Forster drawings from the Gotha Research Library

The 3D postcard editor can be used to create postcards with any number of color layers from the Forster drawings. These creations can then be transferred to a virtual sea and explored. New works of art can be created from the drawings. "We sincerely congratulate Sol Sarratea and Dr. John Woitkowitz on this wonderful award and are excited about the digital possibilities offered by our valuable library objects," says Dr Kathrin Paasch, Director of the Gotha Research Library.

Research librarians Dr Hendrikje Carius and Dr Petra Weigel had compiled the research library's data set necessary for the development of Sarratea and Woitkowitz from digitized copies of Forster's drawings, sketchbook, maps, and associated metadata, and presented and discussed them at the 3D hackathon.

Georg Forster had made the unique animal and plant drawings on James Cook's second circumnavigation of the world from 1775 to 1778. They came to the Gotha Duke's Library around 1800 and are today among the outstanding objects of the Gotha Research Library.