An Iconography-Based Modeling Approach for the Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Architectural Heritage

The study of historic buildings is usually based on the collection and analysis of iconographic sources such as photographs, drawings, engravings, paintings or sketches. This paper describes a methodological approach to make use of the existing iconographic corpus for the analysis and the 3D management of building transformations. Iconography is used for different goals. Firstly, it's a source of geometric information (image-based-modeling of anterior states); secondly, it's used for the re-creation of visual appearance (image-based texture extraction); thirdly it's a proof of the temporal distribution of shape transformations (spatio-temporal modeling); finally it becomes a visual support for the study of building transformations (visual comparison between different temporal states). The aim is to establish a relation between the iconography used for the hypothetical reconstruction and the 3D representation that depends on it. This approach relates to the idea of using 3D representations like visualization systems capable of reflecting the amount of knowledge developed by the study of a historic buildin

An Iconography-Based Modeling Approach for the Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Architectural Heritage

The study of historic buildings is usually based on the collection and analysis of iconographic sources such as photographs, drawings, engravings, paintings or sketches. This paper describes a methodological approach to make use of the existing iconographic corpus for the analysis and the 3D management of building transformations. Iconography is used for different goals. Firstly, it's a source of geometric information (image-based-modeling of anterior states); secondly, it's used for the re-creation of visual appearance (image-based texture extraction); thirdly it's a proof of the temporal distribution of shape transformations (spatio-temporal modeling); finally it becomes a visual support for the study of building transformations (visual comparison between different temporal states). The aim is to establish a relation between the iconography used for the hypothetical reconstruction and the 3D representation that depends on it. This approach relates to the idea of using 3D representations like visualization systems capable of reflecting the amount of knowledge developed by the study of a historic buildin

A semantic-based platform for the digital analysis of architectural heritage

This essay focuses on the fields of architectural documentation and digital representation. We present a research paper concerning the development of an information system at the scale of architecture, taking into account the relationships that can be established between the representation of buildings (shape, dimension, state of conservation, hypothetical restitution) and heterogeneous information about various fields (such as the technical, the documentary or still the historical one). The proposed approach aims to organize multiple representations (and associated information) around a semantic description model with the goal of defining a system for the multi-field analysis of buildings

A Tool for the 3D Spatio-Temporal Structuring of Historic Building Reconstructions

The difficulty in the description, the analysis and the comprehension of cultural heritage often stands on the fact that buildings undergo numerous changes over time. Three factors condition the knowledge of historical heritage. Firstly, 3D reconstructions of heritage buildings focus normally on existing states and not on the management of historical evolutions. Secondly, if on one side iconographic sources are generally used like visual memory of a building temporal state to be restored graphically, on the other side few works today focus on the use of all metric and visual information contained in sources. At last, iconographic documentation concerning building past states is sometimes contradictory, dubious and incomplete. As a consequence, in 3D reconstructions uncertainties, contradictions and gaps in information should be highlighted. We present a methodological approach basing on the existing iconographic corpus for the analysis and the 3D management of building transformations. This approach joins three main aspects in a complete workflow. Firstly, it concerns the spatial and temporal referencing of 2D iconographic sources for the 3D reconstruction of disappeared building states. Secondly, it allows the analysis of building transformations by means of a temporal state distribution. Lastly, it uses spatial relations established between 2D iconography and 3D representation for the visual browsing of information based on spatiotemporal criteria. In particular, in this paper we detail the interface developed in order to accomplish multiple related tasks concerning the spatio-temporal structuring of the morphology to be reconstructed

An image-based approach for the architectural modeling of past states

During the modelling process, 3D models are not easily conceived to support changes over time. On the contrary, for the description of cultural heritage, it is often necessary to display not only the actual state of buildings but also their previous states so to understand their modifications. The construction and structuring of spatio-temporal models of cultural heritage demand a double conceptual effort: on one side, 3D models must be reconstructed and structured in space according to architectural concepts; on the other one, such elements should follow the criteria of temporal decomposition. For this reason, links between structured elements should be established to keep track of changes over time. Moreover, only the current state can be reconstructed in a rigorous way using a combination of different 3D measurement techniques (such as laser scanning and photogrammetry); on the contrary, knowledge about past states is conditioned by missing elements, whose morphology and dating can reveal uncertain. For this reason, this paper describes a methodological approach to make use of the existing iconographic corpus for the analysis and the 3D management of building transformations. The aim is to establish a relation between the iconography used for the hypothetical reconstruction and the 3D representation that depends on it. As a result, 3D representations can be used like visualization systems capable of reflecting the amount of knowledge produced studying historic building

A Tool for the 3D Spatio-Temporal Structuring of Historic Building Reconstructions

The difficulty in the description, the analysis and the comprehension of cultural heritage often stands on the fact that buildings undergo numerous changes over time. Three factors condition the knowledge of historical heritage. Firstly, 3D reconstructions of heritage buildings focus normally on existing states and not on the management of historical evolutions. Secondly, if on one side iconographic sources are generally used like visual memory of a building temporal state to be restored graphically, on the other side few works today focus on the use of all metric and visual information contained in sources. At last, iconographic documentation concerning building past states is sometimes contradictory, dubious and incomplete. As a consequence, in 3D reconstructions uncertainties, contradictions and gaps in information should be highlighted. We present a methodological approach basing on the existing iconographic corpus for the analysis and the 3D management of building transformations. This approach joins three main aspects in a complete workflow. Firstly, it concerns the spatial and temporal referencing of 2D iconographic sources for the 3D reconstruction of disappeared building states. Secondly, it allows the analysis of building transformations by means of a temporal state distribution. Lastly, it uses spatial relations established between 2D iconography and 3D representation for the visual browsing of information based on spatiotemporal criteria. In particular, in this paper we detail the interface developed in order to accomplish multiple related tasks concerning the spatio-temporal structuring of the morphology to be reconstructed

An image-based approach for the architectural modeling of past states

During the modelling process, 3D models are not easily conceived to support changes over time. On the contrary, for the description of cultural heritage, it is often necessary to display not only the actual state of buildings but also their previous states so to understand their modifications. The construction and structuring of spatio-temporal models of cultural heritage demand a double conceptual effort: on one side, 3D models must be reconstructed and structured in space according to architectural concepts; on the other one, such elements should follow the criteria of temporal decomposition. For this reason, links between structured elements should be established to keep track of changes over time. Moreover, only the current state can be reconstructed in a rigorous way using a combination of different 3D measurement techniques (such as laser scanning and photogrammetry); on the contrary, knowledge about past states is conditioned by missing elements, whose morphology and dating can reveal uncertain. For this reason, this paper describes a methodological approach to make use of the existing iconographic corpus for the analysis and the 3D management of building transformations. The aim is to establish a relation between the iconography used for the hypothetical reconstruction and the 3D representation that depends on it. As a result, 3D representations can be used like visualization systems capable of reflecting the amount of knowledge produced studying historic building

3D MODELING AND DATA ENRICHMENT IN DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION OF ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE

The paper presents some experiments carried out as part of the virtual reconstruction of buildings just documented by partial sketches, or partially built, or no more existing, with the aim (a) to emphasize the use of a semantic construction of the digital model, not only as a means to modeling a building but as a cognitive system, (b) to show conceptual similarity between the treaties and BIM, (c) to propose new and more robust solutions to the 3D modeling from 2D drawings for CH artifacts, able to allow the verification of the assumptions used during the reconstruction pipeline, (d) to make use of interactive technical reference, typically real-time photorealistic rendering, for the visualization of three-dimensional model and of variants snapshots, managed by an iconic for illustrating the method of comparison and guided reading of model's characters of the steps taken

4D Reconstruction and Visualization of Cultural Heritage: Analysing our Legacy Through Time

Temporal analyses and multi-temporal 3D reconstruction are fundamental for the preservation and maintenance of all forms of Cultural Heritage (CH) and are the basis for decisions related to interventions and promotion. Introducing the fourth dimension of time into three-dimensional geometric modelling of real data allows the creation of a multi-temporal representation of a site. In this way, scholars from various disciplines (surveyors, geologists, archaeologists, architects, philologists, etc.) are provided with a new set of tools and working methods to support the study of the evolution of heritage sites, both to develop hypotheses about the past and to model likely future developments. The capacity to “see” the dynamic evolution of CH assets across different spatial scales (e.g. building, site, city or territory) compressed in diachronic model, affords the possibility to better understand the present status of CH according to its history. However, there are numerous challenges in order to carry out 4D modelling and the requisite multi-data source integration. It is necessary to identify the specifications, needs and requirements of the CH community to understand the required levels of 4D model information. In this way, it is possible to determine the optimum material and technologies to be utilised at different CH scales, as well as the data management and visualization requirements. This manuscript aims to provide a comprehensive approach for CH time-varying representations, analysis and visualization across different working scales and environments: rural landscape, urban landscape and architectural scales. Within this aim, the different available metric data sources are systemized and evaluated in terms of their suitability