Evaluating digital technologies for architectural heritage preservation using interval-valued q-rung orthopair fuzzy...

Digital technologies have made their presence in the field of architectural heritage as an essential tool to save most historical structures from wearing out, environmental damage, and urban transformation. The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of digital information technology on the preservation of architectural heritage with a novel integration of interval valued q-rung orthopair fuzzy weighted average (IVq-ROFWA) and interval valued q-rung orthopair fuzzy weighted geometric (IVq-ROFWG) operators, an approach that has not, to the best of current knowledge, been previously applied in this domain. The application of these more advanced fuzzy aggregation methods provides the benefit of incorporating uncertainty and imprecision in expert judgments to account for the indeterminate, implicit relationships between various preservation criteria, including data accuracy, integration with restoration efforts, and long-term data accessibility. Given five alternatives considered in terms of five attributes, the IVq-ROFWA method rated augmented reality as the highest. In contrast, the IVq-ROFWG method rated heritage building information modeling as the highest. The present research highlights another aspect of high relevance to decision-makers, as it provides valuable recommendations on selecting the most effective digital tools to preserve their heritage. The novelty of the study lies in the introduction of new types of IVq-ROFWA and IVq-ROFWG operators in architectural heritage conservation, which provide more robust, precise, and reliable decisions based on uncertainty.