# MACROSISDATA: safeguarding and promoting the heritage of French macroseismic surveys carried out between 1921 and 1996

Christophe Sira, L. Schirr, V. Bertrand, M. Schaming

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Christophe Sira, L. Schirr, V. Bertrand, M. Schaming. MACROSISDATA: safeguarding and promoting the heritage of French macroseismic surveys carried out between 1921 and 1996. Journal of Seismology, In press, 10.1007/s10950-025-10322-y. hal-05248662

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# MACROSISDATA: safeguarding and promoting the heritage of French macroseismic surveys carried out between 1921 and 1996

C. Sira* · L. Schirr · V. Bertrand

M. Schaming

Received: 10 September 2024 / Accepted: 29 July 2025
© The Author(s) 2025

**Abstract** Macroseismic surveys are of great interest to both the scientific community and the authorities. The aim of the MACROSISDATA project is to safeguard, disseminate, and promote through an online database the macroseismic survey documents collected by the French Central Seismological Bureau between 1921 and 1996. During this period, a total of 1428 earthquakes were surveyed to estimate

macroseismic intensities (severity of ground shaking) by sending paper forms to the municipal authorities. This unique collection of forms, letters, maps, newspaper articles, and macroseismic reports amounts to 29 linear meters of archival paper documents. The 5-year MACROSISDATA project (2020–2025) consisted of 9 stages, from inventorying archival documents to online publication of digitized documents on a national website. The last stage will be implemented at the end of 2025. The stages were developed with the support of the archives department of the University of Strasbourg, comply with French archive management rules, and adopt a strategy that makes the data easily findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR). In this article, we describe each stage in detail.

## Highlights

* A French database was created by digitizing all the macroseismic archival documents collected by BCSF between 1921 and 1996.

* The digital replication strategy secures these data that are exposed to numerous hazards and allows broad access to both scientific community and the general public.

* The method adopted for this project enabled a rigorous transcription of heritage data in compliance with French and European legislation.

**Keywords** Seismology · Macroseismic survey · Database · Archive · Digitalization · Open science

**Supplementary Information** The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-025-10322-y.

C. Sira (✉) · V. Bertrand
Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, UAR 830,
67000 Strasbourg, France
e-mail: christophe.sira@unistra.fr

C. Sira · V. Bertrand · M. Schaming
Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, OSU EOST,
67000 Strasbourg, France

L. Schirr
Université de Strasbourg, Services des archives,
67000 Strasbourg, France

V. Bertrand
European Plate Observing System, 75794 Cedex 16, Paris,
France

M. Schaming
Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, ITES UMR 7063,
67000 Strasbourg, France
# 1 Introduction

In recent decades, historical seismology, particularly macroseismology, has experienced renewed interest both for understanding scientific use of these data (Vannucci et al. 2021), and for reassessing historical intensities using contemporary macroseismic scales (Tertulliani et al. 2018; Brüstle et al. 2020).

The source documents used for intensity estimation are often difficult to access because macroseismic databases frequently lack digital versions of these materials. While the law obliges national archives to preserve and make the original documents available to the public, documentary research and intensity reviews are hindered by constraints related to their consultation, such as archive opening hours, the distances required to access different sites (cost of travel), and the number of document copies required. Private collections have similar constraints and may also impose specific consultation rules.

A collective effort has to be made to safeguard and provide direct access to these documents. The online availability of new documents, including digitized historical archives and press archives (e.g. https://galli.ca.bnf.fr), along with geographic and textual search capabilities in digital systems, greatly enhances the efficiency, scope, and quality of research studies (Jomard et al. 2021).

New tools have emerged that facilitate the analysis of sources (search engines, artificial intelligence, optical character recognition) enabling new descriptive historical traces of seismic effects to be unearthed, particularly for less-known small-magnitude earthquakes (Nayman et al. 2020; Jomard et al. 2021).

In Europe, 33 seismological agencies provide macroseismic data (Van Noten et al. 2017) and some of them work on historical information. They have made major efforts to make numerical historical macroseismic databases available online (Hellenic Macroseismic Database, Database Macrosismico Italiano, Sisfrance macroseismic database, etc.). These databases mainly consist in the compilation of catalogs of intensity points associated with references to the sources used (Albini & Stucchi 1997; Fäh et al. 2011; Cucci et al. 2016; Rocca et al. 2011; Rovida et al. 2020; Stucchi et al. 2013); they more rarely make digitized source documents available (Jomard et al. 2021). The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Italy was one of the first institutes to

recognize, as early as 2003, the importance of historical macroseismic documents (Tarabusi and Ferrari 2009).

Given this broader movement to preserve source data and the valuable nature of the BCSF (Bureau Central Sismologique Français) archive collection, we considered it essential to contribute to the collective effort by making all French macroseismic survey documents available to the scientific community.

## 1.1 Context

The Bureau Central Sismologique Français (BCSF) was set up in Strasbourg in 1921 by government decree at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Strasbourg. In 2016 BCSF was merged with the National Seismic Monitoring Network (Réseau national de surveillance sismique, Rénass) under the new name BCSF-Rénass. It has been carrying out macroseismic surveys since 1921 (Sira et al. 2021a), apart from two short periods: first, from 1941 to 1944 (2nd world war period), during which macroseismic studies were carried out by the Geophysikalisches Institut in Reichsuniversität Straßburg but only on the occupied part of French territory (the other part being studied by the University of Clermont-Ferrand); second, from 1978 to 1986, when this mission was undertaken by the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM, Roger 2021). Survey forms are sent to local authorities for completion after any major earthquake, and these completed forms, along with spontaneous citizen testimonies, provide the data needed to estimate local seismic intensities. Between 1921 and 1996, 1,428 earthquakes were surveyed through paper forms. Since 1996, all testimonial information has been entered in digital form into a structured database. From 2000 onwards, individual and then communal testimonials were gradually transmitted directly via online forms available at www.franceseisme.fr.

The MACROSISDATA project was initiated in 2020 with the Action Transverse Thématique Sismicité (ATTS Axe 3, https://sismicite.epos-france.fr/axes/axe-3-donnees-macrosismiques-sismicite-historique-et-contemporaine/) of the European Plate Observing System—France (Epos-France, www.epos-france.fr). The five-year project is designed to digitally reproduce the BCSF macroseismic archive, a unique collection in France that documents the
period 1921–1996. It also makes the data accessible
according to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoper-
able, Reusable) principles (Wilkinson et al. 2016),
so they can be used for innovative scientific studies
on seismic hazard: data mining, macroseismic revi-
sions, building studies, communal vulnerabilities,
human behavior, updating macroseismic scales, etc.
The ATTS aims to facilitate exchange of cross-bor-
der information for earthquake studies and improve
the online availability of continuous macroseismic
information. European collaborative projects could
benefit from this digitization, enabling researchers to
re-evaluate or strengthen transnational macroseismic
data (Tertulliani et al. 2018), or to decrease epistemic
uncertainties associated with historical earthquake
parameter estimation through shared macroseismic
and calibration datasets across national boundaries
(Provost et al. 2022).

## 2 Data: documentary review and specific features of the archive collection

### 2.1 Specificities of the fund

The BCSF’s collection of macroseismic surveys has a
high heritage and scientific value. It contains unique
data on all earthquakes in mainland France and over-
seas since 1919, as well as information on the obser-
vatory’s history to better understand the quality of
the data collected and the evolution of survey tech-
niques. Only the period 1940–1945 is incomplete due
to the interruption of macroseismic activities during
the Second World War and the temporary transfer of
the BCSF from Strasbourg to Clermont-Ferrand in
the center of France. The detailed digitization process
enabled us to find surveys of the Strasbourg area con-
ducted by the Geophysikalisches Institut of the Reich-
suniversität Strassburg from 1941 to 1944 among the
documents in the collection.

Another specificity of the fund is that some docu-
ments contain personal data, which raises questions
about the legality of online dissemination of this
information with regard to the French and European
regulations in force (see section 4).

In accordance with French legislation on Archives,
historical archives have to be kept in an archival insti-
tution. After their digitization, the documents will be

sent to Archives d'Alsace (https://archives.alsace.eu/)
for conservation.

### 2.2 Documentary review of the collection

Currently, the complete collection of macroseismic
documents is stored in the archives room at the Ecole
et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre (EOST)
under satisfactory preservation conditions (Fig. 1).
The documents are archived on 29 m of shelving, in
196 archive boxes, each containing several macroseis-
mic investigation files, for a total of around 250,000
pages.

These are mainly paper-based forms, letters, press
articles, macroseismic reports and maps (Fig. 2). The
form of the questionnaires has changed over time
(Sira et al. 2021a, b). From 2000 onwards, paper
questionnaires were gradually replaced by digi-
tal documents (PDF format, online questionnaires,
emails, etc.).

Although no regulatory filing operation has ever
been conducted on this collection, the documentary
situation prior to the digitization operation was satis-
factory. The documents making up this collection are
well organized using an adapted chronological clas-
sification, which contributes to efficient document
management. The granularity of classification here
is by earthquake. An Excel tracking file containing
brief descriptions (earthquake location and date, doc-
ument types) was created to enable quick document
identification.

The media and formats of the documents span
a period of almost 90 years and are quite varied. A
sampling was carried out prior to the project, in order
to better consider the technical constraints that could
arise during a digitization project. This sampling was
carried out on two boxes per ten years and more pre-
cisely on the years ending in -0 and -5, in order to
observe the evolution of the media and provide an ini-
tial estimate of the number of views to be produced
by the digitization service provider.

The study of formats revealed documents rang-
ing in size from less than A4 (frequently A5) to more
than A3, particularly for macroseismic maps.

The supports are generally made of conventional
paper, but extremely fragile peel-off paper or tracing
paper has also been used, necessitating delicate han-
dling. Some collaged press cuttings also present dif-
ficulties for digitization. Some fragile media (tracing
<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 1** Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre archive room</figcaption></figure>

paper, peel-off paper, press clippings, etc.) have been
restored prior to digitization.

**3 Methodology**

The project is divided into 9 actions (Fig. 3), from
collecting documents to uploading the digitized files
onto a dedicated website for distribution. Each stage
is dependent on the completion of the previous one
and the project was mainly carried out in sequen-
tial order. However, the development of the data-
base and website (stage 8) began while digitization
.stage 5) was not yet complete for all documents.
Stage 8 is still ongoing and the website (stage 9) is
scheduled to go online at the end of the project in
late 2025. Each stage required collaboration of spe-
cialists in specific fields and setting up collaborative

exchanges between members of the working group
(Appendix 1). Digitization (stage 5) was carried out
by an external service provider.

Stages 8 and 9 were designed using tools pro-
vided by the French Ministry of Higher Education
and Research's Huma-Num Research Infrastructure
(RI), implemented by the CNRS (Centre national de
la recherche scientifique) with Campus Condorcet
and Aix-Marseille university. These institutional
resources enable the preservation of data over the
long term and its dissemination in an open science
context in line with FAIR principles.

Digitization began in September 2020 during
the COVID-19 lockdown period in France (March
17, 2020—May 3, 2021), but did not impact the
project significantly. The archives were verified
and prepared for digitization at the BCSF archives

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 2** Example of documents from the macroseismic survey fund (from left to right and top to bottom: survey form, letter, report, summary map)</figcaption></figure>

by a single worker. The digitization service provider worked normally in compliance with health constraints.

## 3.1 Collection history, structure and inventory

An inventory of the collection was edited in order to draw up proposals for a program of action and to provide a framework for the digitization project. This process involved describing the archive collection's history, inventorying its constituent documents, estimating the volume and space occupied, documenting file organization and formats, identifying document types (maps, letters, forms, etc.), assessing physical

condition, and recording specific features such as creators and origins.

## 3.2 The Data Management Plan (DMP)

A Data Management Plan associated with the MAC-ROSISDATA project was created (¹) on the Opidor platform (dmp.opidor.fr).

<footnote n="1">¹ In France, since December 3, 2021, a decree implementing the Research Programming Act (LPR) on compliance with scientific integrity requirements has applied to "public establishments contributing to the public research service and foundations recognized as being of public utility whose main activity is public research", requiring the creation of the DMP.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 3** Project timeline flowchart</figcaption></figure>

This summary document helps to organize and anticipate all stages of the data lifecycle. It describes all the data generated or collected during the project and specifies how they is managed, from their creation or collection to their sharing and archiving (documentation, legal requirements, long-term backup, responsibilities and resources, etc.). This descriptive documentation provides an essential foundation for communication with our various partners and data users.

### 3.3 Digitization specifications

The digitization of the macroseismic survey collection was entirely carried out by a service provider. The university's archives department drew up a set of specifications to define the technical requirements and provide a framework for the digitization operation.

These specifications have served as a model for other digitization operations at the University of Strasbourg and comply with the procedures defined

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /></figure>
by the Service interministériel des archives de France
(https://francearchives.gouv.fr/article/26287441).

Following a quick inventory and identification of
documents for digitization, the specifications outline
the required digitization service: document transport
and storage, pre-service document verification, and
technical digitization standards.

Document delivery is also defined: delivery
medium to be used, naming and organization of docu-
ments, service and production control procedures,
production report.

Finally, the question of document rights is also
addressed: definition of document use and digital uses
by the service provider, copyright, and for how long
digital documents are kept by the service provider.

3.4 Archive preparation

Several operations were carried out prior to the physi-
cal transfer of the files to the external service provider
for digitization. These operations were designed to
facilitate the subsequent organization of digital files
by document type (forms, correspondence, press
clippings, macroseismic reports). We systemati-
cally checked the consistency of the years between
the documents and the indication on the archive box.
We also checked that the documents contained in the
macroseismic survey files corresponded to the correct
earthquake and that the elements were correctly clas-
sified by documentary typology within the files.

At the same time, we produced an inventory file
(in Excel format) listing all the earthquakes contained
in each box and the type of documents associated
with them.

These files served as a finding aid and were used
as the basis for a digital directory describing the
archive's holdings.

3.5 Digitization

The service provider undertook necessary measures
to store the documents received in a room secured
against theft and fire and covered by an insurance pol-
icy. The service provider then checked that the refer-
ence information contained in the inspection file cor-
responded to the delivered documents.

As soon as the documents were received, the
service provider ensured that they could be digi-
tized according to the requirements defined in the

specifications. Any document that could not be
scanned was returned to the BCSF-Rénass. This may
happen due to the poor condition of the document,
temporal inconsistency, illegibility, particular format,
etc.

The provider then scaned all the documents con-
tained in the files, page by page, with a rendering
resolution of 300 dpi, in color and in PDF 1.6 for-
mat, which is an ISO-standardized version of the PDF
format (Portable Document Format) specific for the
long-term archiving and conservation of digital docu-
ments and compatible with FAIR data recommenda-
tions. Scanning 250,000 pages took around 600 h, i.e.
7 sheets/min.

3.5.1 Organization and delivery of digital files
by the service provider

The digital files produced were deposited by the ser-
vice provider on a secure European IT platform and
organized in directories similar to the order and num-
bering of the original files (Fig. 4). Each digital folder
rendered is the digital image of a single macroseismic
survey comprising all its documents. Files are named
according to a precise code that includes the date and
location of the earthquake.

3.6 Quality validation

3.6.1 Control by the service provider

An initial check of digitization quality and compli-
ance with specifications was conducted after the digi-
tization test phase of the first three archive boxes.

Quality control of production by the service pro-
vider is carried out at the end of production, not only
on the digitized images, but also on all the service
products (file naming, completeness of files made
available on the server, completion of the inventory
file, hourly service report). Based on the results of the
initial sample (minimum 500 objects), if too many
defective images are found, the service provider may
choose to increase sample quality checks or perform
new digitization.

3.6.2 *Control by BCSF-Rénass*

On receipt of the digital files, the final quality control
covers the digital images and all the service products.
the FAIR principles advocated for the dissemination
of research data.

3.8 MySQL database and website

In order to preserve and disseminate its digitized
documentary holdings, the BCSF-Rénass has joined
forces with the French research infrastructure Huma-
Num (www.huma-num.fr/). Huma-Num is a French
thematic reference center integrated into the ecosys-
tem of international data centers. It provides tools
and services to prepare, organize and store data for
online dissemination of information according to
international standards and in compliance with FAIR
principles.

Huma-Num provides virtual machines hosted
on its infrastructure to ensure the accessibility of
these tools and support their use by the scientific
community.

"It enables the use of Heurist open-source software, which facilitates the creation of relational databases. With a simple web browser and no installation or programming, Heurist lets you create a MySQL database.

Users benefit from a range of advanced func-
tions, from the construction of faceted searches
and navigation rules, to the use of a CMS (Con-
tent Management System) integrating widg-
ets (programs for displaying information via
a graphic interface), such as interactive maps,
which make up Heurist's interface (https://mate-
shs.cnrs.fr/actions/tutomate/tuto26-heurist-ian-
johnson/)."

The BCSF-Rénass designed the MACROSIS-
DATA project website using this platform tool. Ini-
tially, the data will be organized in a MySql Heurist
database. However, at the end of the project, the data-
set will be transferred to Nakala (https://doi.org/10.
17616/R3JM1B). Nakala is developed and hosted by
Huma-Num and is one of France's data warehouses
accredited as a reference center in the Humanities and
Social Sciences. A DOI will then be created for the
data.

In 2024, the website was in the layout phase
(https://heurist.huma-num.fr/MACROSISDATA) and
will be completed in 2025. It features a simplified
interface providing access to information via 4 main
tabs:

- Project: presents the project, its context, objectives and methodology;

- Data: main characteristics of the documentary collection;

- Search for an earthquake: gives access to the document search tool by attribute (date, maximum intensity, name of commune) or by spatial query on geographical areas (map of France);

- Contact: access to an e-mail interface for contacting the database administrator.

As data is subject to access constraints (communi-
cability, copyright), filters will be installed according
to document types and dates, as well as user profiles.

The main "ACCESS to data"tab provides access
to the document database query interface (Fig. 5). It
consists of three panels.

The left-hand panel summarizes the information
contained in the database in numerical and graphi-
cal form (number of earthquakes per year). Start
and end dates of the request can be modified directly
on the graph. Below the graph, a table displays the
number of earthquakes by maximum intensity over
the selected period. After the graph, a tool (intensity
recording department(s)) displays the earthquakes
that have affected a department (always over the cho-
sen period). A third tool enables searches by cities
where intensity was recorded. At any time, the"reset
all"button allows users to return to viewing all avail-
able information. For each result, the list of munici-
palities closest to the epicenters and the number of
earthquakes associated with that location are shown.

The central panel of this page (Fig. 5) synchro-
nously displays the list of earthquakes resulting from
queries made on the left-hand side. Clicking on an
earthquake gives access to all the information about
that event: name, documents available for consulta-
tion by type (maps, letters, forms), earthquake date,
maximum intensity, location, departments affected,
towns documented.

The third panel, on the right-hand side of the page,
is a synchronized information map. It can display
the number of earthquakes by region. By clicking on
a geographical area, it gives access to a blow-up to
show details of the geographical distribution of these
events at a smaller scale. Clicking on an earthquake
takes you directly to the earthquake information
and associated document downloads (Fig. 6). The
default background map is OpenStreetMap. It can be
<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 5** MACROSISDATA website consultation page (https://heurist.huma-num.fr/MACROSISDATA)</figcaption></figure>

modified, and the user can choose from a collection of ESRI contemporary backgrounds licensed under (CC BY 4.0). Historical and chronological base maps are not accessible in these mapping systems. We therefore invite the reader to remain vigilant when observing contemporary background information that he or she might associate with the contents of the historical database (quarry, industry, airport, conurbation, etc.).

## 3.9 Opening website MACROSISDATA

The version of the website under development at the time of writing can be viewed at https://heurist.huma-num.fr/MACROSISDATA. This beta version will enable us to collect comments from Internet users (whether solicited or not) before the end of the project, in order to improve the site's operation. The final version is scheduled for the end of 2025.

On the final version, data will be freely accessible up to the year 1975 (50 years from the present), with all associated metadata.

Two links are planned to the data produced from these macroseismic surveys by the BCSF (https://www.franceseisme.fr/donnees/intensites.php) and French historical databases (https://www.sisfrance.net/), while a third link will lead to the historical

publication in the “Annales de Géophysique de l’Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg” or in the BCSF’s “Observations sismologiques françaises” volume (https://www.franceseisme.fr/donnees/publi-cations.php).

## 4 Application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other legal issues

Data collected via BCSF survey forms, whether individual or collective (municipality scale), are used to establish the intensity scale of felt earthquakes. These documents frequently include personal data such as first names, surnames and addresses, enabling the precise location of the witness at the time of the event and any subsequent exchanges.

According to the GDPR (https://gdpr-info.eu/art-5-gdpr/), “Personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’); collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research
<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 6** Interactive map display and related information on the MACROSISDATA website</figcaption></figure>

purposes or statistical purposes shall, in accordance with Article 89(1), not be considered to be incompatible with the initial purposes ('purpose limitation')...".

Putting the BCSF's archives online has therefore been the subject of collective thinking in terms of legal obligations and ethics, even though these documents do not contain any legally sensitive data. The GDPR referent (data protection officer—DPO) of the CNRS in France was also asked for legal advice.

Throughout the digitization project, all the players involved are committed to ensure data confidentiality and security: project team, database and website administrators, service provider for document digitization, and data host. For example, the contract signed by the service provider expressly prohibits it from reproducing the documents outside the scope of the service, or from distributing them in any way.

As nominative information is not essential for the various presumed uses of the archives, we considered anonymizing it to enable unrestricted distribution. But due to the sheer number of pages involved (around 250,000) and the dissemination of personal information throughout the pages, we were forced to give up for lack of sufficient resources. However, the metadata created as part of the project identifies the typology of the documents in the collection (forms, photos, articles, correspondence, etc.), enabling them to be processed differently.

With regard to forms, despite variations over time in their format and content, they are considered equivalent in terms of the GDPR and the French Heritage Code. This applies in particular to the retention period, distribution rights, confidentiality and security of data access.
The GDPR and the revised Data Protection Act confirm the possibility of retaining data beyond the duration linked to the initial processing"for archival purposes in the public interest, for scientific or historical research purposes or for statistical purposes", which covers our archive documents.

Digitized forms are not freely communicable and distributable if they are less than 50 years old, in application of article L. 213-2 of the French Heritage Code. We are going to ask the Archives d'Alsace for a waiver to allow restricted use for research purposes, subject to an undertaking by the beneficiaries not to transmit or disseminate individual data (anonymization). Within this academic context, justified requests will be reviewed and processed by the collection managers. Documents over 50 years old will be made available to the public.

Photos and press articles are subject to copyright. Photographs, for example, are subject to distribution rights for up to 70 years after the author's death, with variations depending on the status of the photographer and the type of shot. As for press articles, they may not be distributed, whatever their date, without the agreement of the rights holder and, when applicable, payment of a fee. They may, however, be consulted for research purposes only, with a commitment to use them in accordance with the law (no reproduction or distribution). In practice, access to these documents will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, in compliance with regulations.

All other documents, i.e. those over 50 years old and not subject to specific rights, are made available under a Creative Commons—Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) license, which implies crediting the document, incorporating a link to the license and indicating whether any modifications have been made to the original. This covers all uses, including commercial applications, and requires that documents be shared under the same conditions. However, application of this license is not mandatory, since the resources belong to the public domain.

# 5 Discussion

Two major difficulties encountered in this project were to find the funding to carry out the digitization by an external service provider (on the order of 70 000 euros) and to agree on a "win-win"

invoicing method between the service provider and the University.

The multi-year financing of the project made it possible to resolve the first point by spreading the total cost of digitization over 5 years, which made it possible to finance the operation in part from the BCSF-Rénass's own budgets, aided by a 50% grant from the ATTS Epos-France.

Due to budgetary constraints, the project did not include optical character recognition, which would have facilitated deep working on the data.

The sampling carried out prior to the project to qualify and quantify the archive documents did not enable us to accurately assess the time required to digitize them. This time can vary greatly from one type of document to another, for example between stacks of A4 questionnaires that can be scanned on the fly, or large-format cards on fragile media. The various service providers consulted were therefore unable to provide us with a preliminary estimate of the time and therefore the cost. The service was billed annually based on the time spent (usually around 166 h.).

The solution of digitization at the service provider's premises forced us to move the entire collection in batches of 10 archive files (due to a lack of space at the service provider's premises over a long period of time). Although restrictive, this organization enabled us to minimize the risk of loss through better control, and no documents were destroyed or lost.

The macroseismic surveys used to determine intensities, as synthesized by the French map of maximum communal intensities (https://doi.org/10.25577/6w78-nn28), are directly linked to the Earth sciences, while at the same time drawing on the human and social sciences. Therefore, the repository focused primarily on instrumental Earth science data would not accept our survey data, which they considered too "social" in nature.

The other challenge was to find an internationally recognized national reference center for data distribution, taking into account the constraints imposed by legislation on the dissemination of individual data, our desire to provide access to data through geographic visualization, and the absence within the group of a computer scientist dedicated to this project.

The acceptance of our "Earth-Environment" project within the Huma-Num Social Science Research
Infrastructure has proved the effectiveness of interac-
tions between thematic sciences in Research.

The Huma-Num infrastructure and easily accessi-
ble tools have enabled us to meet our requirements.
Unfortunately, we only learned belatedly (July 2024)
that it would have been preferable to design the data-
base in the Nakala warehouse (https://nakala.fr/)
rather than directly in the Heurist tool as we had been
advised (https://heurist.huma-num.fr). Nevertheless,
it is planned to make this modification in 2025, and
thus associate a DOI with the data.

Even though the source documents cannot be
translated, the website will be accessible in English.
Of course, this last point remains a difficulty for the
interpretation of documents by foreign third parties,
and this issue is still difficult to solve without a lin-
guistic effort on the part of users.

After digitization is finished, the original paper
documents will be transfered to"Le Pôle Mémoire
Archives d'Alsace"(https://archives.alsace.eu/) to
meet French archival law requirements and to pre-
serve them in a professional facility specialized
in protecting, sharing, and transmitting historical
documents. They will still be available for consulta-
tion but will undoubtedly be better protected against
changes in temperature and humidity, and against
mishandling, than they were in the basement of our
observatory.

This transfer also allows the observatory to reduce
archiving costs by freeing up the space, furniture, and
staff resources that were allocated to document man-
agement. The cost of electronic storage remains far
lower than that of conventional archiving, especially
when it is based on shared resources and skills (as in
the case of Huma-Num).

These digitally accessible data, available anytime
and anywhere in the world, will facilitate interna-
tional collaborative research and studies by external
organizations, with the hope that this approach will
serve as a model for other countries and their docu-
mentary resources.

Through this project, we are thinking of all those
working on the memory of risk, who will be able to
draw on this information to support prevention, vul-
nerability reduction, and resilience policies based on
past experience.

As Emmanuel Garnier (Garnier 2020) writes, "...  
historical insight legitimizes the safeguarding and  
transmission of a culture of 'conservation', which  
should be seen as feedback that can better prepare  
our fellow citizens to face the disasters of today and  
tomorrow".

should be seen as feedback that can better prepare
our fellow citizens to face the disasters of today and
tomorrow”.

6 Conclusion

The digitization of macroseismic survey documents
is a fundamental mission of observatories to ensure
this information is preserved and passed on to pre-
sent and future generations. Often unique and always
irreplaceable, these ancient scientific documents are
unfortunately subject to natural hazards (aging, flood-
ing, fungus) or anthropogenic hazards (destruction,
loss, etc.) over time, as historical studies highlight.
The methodological approach adopted by the BCSF-
Renass has enabled us to carry out rigorous digital
processing and respectful transcription of France's
macroseismic documentary heritage, in order to facil-
itate its preservation, increase its accessibility, and
thus encourage studies based on this historical scien-
tific documentation.

The ease with which documents can be dissemi-
nated using today's IT tools is a major opportunity to
publicize their content, enable new interpretations or
open them up to new research topics and uses, such as
artificial intelligence analysis or"Big Data"digital pro-
cessing. Compliance with the international standards
of the distribution platform encourages exchanges
and reduces the impact of country borders on access
to information. Increasing the number of this type
of project internationally will facilitate cross-border
analysis of macroseismic data, where, as in France,
seismic hazard is often the most significant.

The MACROSISDATA project, carried out by a
group of multi-disciplinary engineers, proves also the
strength of interdisciplinarity and the importance of
shared research infrastructures such as Huma-Num
for the storage, dissemination and enhancement of
historical data.

**Acknowledgements** This project received technical support from the archives department of the Université de Strasbourg and IR Huma-Num. The Phun (Plateforme d'humanités numériques), Huma-Num's regional level (Alsace region, Tara Cooke), has helped our project to be positively validated at national level. Many thanks to Ian Johnson and Guillaume Porte for their technical support who helped us develop the MACROSISDATA Heurist website. Thanks are also due to Solène Malerba, who checked the documents, followed up with the external service provider and continued to set up
the Heurist site during her employment at UAR 830 CNRS
observatory. We warmly thank our colleagues Alessia Maggi,
Jérôme Van der Woerd and Benoit Derode from EOST/ITES
for their careful reading and constructive feedback, which
greatly contributed to improve this manuscript.

**Author contribution** All authors whose names appear on the submission made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; C.S. prepared Figs. 1 to 6. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

**Funding** Partial financial support was received from the Ecole et Observatoire des sciences de la Terre (UAR 830 of the CNRS- National Center for Scientific Research), Epos-France Research Infrastructure (French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, French Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion).

**Data availability** No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Declarations

**Conflict of interest** The authors declare no competing interests.

**Appendix 1**

Working Group members:

- Christophe Sira: Research engineer at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), head of the macroseismic section of the BCSF-Rénass. Specialize in treatment, analysis and representation of macroseismic data

- Lucile Schirr: Archives Officer and head of the archives department at the University of Strasbourg

- Véronique Bertrand: Research engineer at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Communication Officer—European Plate Observing System France (Epos-France).

- Solène Malerba: Documentary and Scientific Resources Assistant at the French Centre for Scientific Research.

- Marc Schaming: Research engineer at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Geophysicist—expert in databases and information systems geophysicist

**Open Access** This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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# 1 Internet sites

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Access to French administrative documents: https://www.servi-ce-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F2467

CINES (National Computer Center for Higher Education): https://www.cines.fr/archivage/un-concept-des-problematiques/les-metadonnees-de-perennisation/

Decree of DMP (Data Management Plan): https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000044411360. Accessed Dec 2021

Decree: n° 2018-1117 du 10 décembre 2018 relatif aux catégories de documents administratifs pouvant être rendus publics sans faire l'objet d'un processus: décret n° 2018-1117 du 10 décembre 2018 - article D. 312-1-3 du code des relations entre le public et l'administration (CRPA): https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000037797147. Accessed Dec 2018

DMP (Data Management Plan): https://openscience.pasteur.fr/2021/02/25/le-plan-de-gestion-des-donnees/. Accessed Feb 2021

Drawing up specifications for heritage digitisation, February technical guide 2008, instruction DIT N/RES/2008/001 du 4 février 2008: https://francearchives.gouv.fr/file/bf50d8fa5f554586dbf18fdc862d25970a1da0a7/static_4132.pdf. Accessed Feb 2008

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General Data Protection Régulation (GDPR): https://gdpr-info.eu/. Accessed May 2016

HEURIST, database creation service & CMS for researchers in Human and Social Sciences: https://mate-shs.cnrs.fr/actio ns/tutomate/tuto26-heurist-ian-johnson/

MACROSISDATA internet site: https://heurist.huma-num.fr/MACROSISDATA

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Sisfrance (French historical intensities database): https://www.sisfrance.net/

**Publisher's Note** Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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