How to affordably produce a quality digital catalogue raisonné
Aleksi Gallen-Kallela, Lakeside Landscape, 1911, oil on canvas, 42,5 × 33,5 cm, Ateneum Art Museum. Image courtesy of Ateneum Art Museum/Finnish National Gallery and Jenni Nurminen.
Creating a digital catalogue raisonné is not always less expensive than producing a physical one, and custom digital solutions often require dedicated infrastructure, external developers, ongoing hardware updates, and security maintenance, which add significant long-term costs. While these solutions offer complete customization, they also demand substantial time and resources, making them difficult to sustain. But with Navigating.art’s platform, you can efficiently publish a high-quality digital catalogue raisonné and leave the technical maintenance to us, so you can dedicate more time to your research.
Reduce manual labor with a programmed database designed to create digital catalogues raisonnés
Manual data entry in custom solutions increases the risk of errors, requiring repeated corrections both internally and in published materials. Some solutions, such as Navigating.art, automate this process by integrating Getty Vocabularies — ULAN and AAT — allowing users to search, add, and link entries instead of retyping information. Drop-down menus standardize transaction types and associated people or institutions, ensuring consistency and accuracy. By reducing manual input, the platform minimizes errors and administrative effort.
Expedite the editing process of a digital catalogue raisonné with standardized information
Editing often slows the production of a digital catalogue raisonné, but researchers can make the process more efficient. We designed editorial workflows to simplify tasks and reduce unnecessary steps. Within the platform, researchers track their progress, marking vetted information and identifying what still requires review. This system replaces spreadsheets, clarifies team communication, and keeps institutional knowledge aligned. Users can also export data reports for external editors, ensuring a smooth transition from draft to publication. Standardized content speeds up editing. Instead of verifying the same publication multiple times, researchers correct an entry once, and the platform applies the update across all related records. Automated citation formatting extracts entered information to generate accurate reference and provenance lines. By reducing manual effort, the platform helps researchers focus on their work rather than formatting and corrections, bringing the publication closer to completion.
Spend less with automatic updates and security
Most custom systems for digital catalogues raisonnés rely on dedicated machines, requiring a developer to manage security updates, install software on-site, replace hardware, and train researchers to use the database. Navigating.art, a cloud-based platform, always runs on the latest hardware. Updates and maintenance happen automatically, while continuous security monitoring ensures best practices—without additional costs or disruptions.
