Strutturazione dei dati di un GIS in ontologia: applicazione per la mappatura del degrado di un caso studio

The development of applied ontologies in the field of Information Systems and Computer Science for the optimisation of the representation of data about some specific knowledge sector is reaching also the field of Cultural Heritage. The possibility to set constraints to the interpretation of information organized in data-base and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) offers noticeable advantages for the development and the communication of knowledge about this kind of objects. This methodology was applied to a case study, during a PhD research about a possible ontology for Cultural Heritage: a façade of an ex convent, today in a critical degradation, on which a thematic analysis of the degradation state of materials and surfaces, on the base of a metric survey and managed in a GIS was previously realized. In this first study, the data were modelled using an Entity – Relation (ER) schema in order to determine objects to represent with properties and mutual relations and cardinality constraints. The formality of the language used for the modelling is increased through upper-level logic instrument, which permit the formulation of an ontology of data uniquely structured for obtaining a less ambiguous interpretation on the information

World heritage mapping in a standard-based structured geographical information system

This research aims at the study of the (dynamic) relationship between the World Heritage sites and the related human settlements development. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can be useful to represent the involved information and to analyze such relationship. However, an effective harmonized structure and unique storage of possibly heterogeneous datasets is necessary to enable it. This initial step is the focus of this paper. First, the description of the structure of the related datasets and the assessment of the availability, quality, and consistency of the available information about the Heritage sites and properties is presented. Among those requirements, the quality of the associated spatial information is critical (e.g. kind of shape, accuracy, georeferencing). Second, considering the structure of the available datasets concerning the world heritage, together with the HERILAND research requirements, a global world heritage GIS is designed. The classification and data model to manage the WH list falls within the wider issue of structuring the cultural heritage documentation, involving both the definition of the semantic content and the geometric representation. In order to comply with the important requirement of data interoperability in science and to strengthen the outcomes of the research, some standardized data models and classifications are considered

Ontologie e modelli di dati per l’informazione spaziale dei Beni Architettonici

Architectonical Heritage presents a wide quantity and heterogeneity of data, which it is necessary to manage in a suitable way in order to obtain an efficient information. The exigencies and the requirements always stated (unique catalogue methods, sharing and communication of the information for the preservation and the valorisation) are further confirmed by the information and web technologies: logics and informatics tools developed by these sectors can be efficiently employed for representation and metric documentation goals. Spatial information, following specific standards, must be managed in a suitable way in order not to lose the characteristic complexity of Architectonical Heritage and must be integrated with the thematic information which unavoidably enrich the representation. Existing standards are used, integrated, in order to obtain a data structuring which can respond to the exigencies of interoperability stated by the web and by the international organisations. Theoretical solutions are here tested on a case study

3D Modelling of trompe l’oeil decorated vaults using dense matching techniques

Dense matching techniques, implemented in many software, both commercial or open source, are effective instruments to realize a rapid and detailed survey of complex objects, including many different surfaces and a lot of details. For this reason these tools have been tested for the metric survey of a frescoed ceilings of the hall of honour of a baroque building. These surfaces are densely painted with trompe-l’oeil technique, what, in theory, can offer a very good texture to automatic matching algorithms, but in this case the painting gives problems in reconstructing the correct geometry: in fact, in correspondence with principals architectonic painted details, the models presents some irregularity following the painted drawing. The photogrammetric models have been compared with data deriving from a LIDAR survey of the same object, to evaluate the entity of this blunder: some profiles of selected sections have been extracted, verifying the different behaviours of the software tools

THE EUROSDR GEOBIM PROJECT - DEVELOPING CASE STUDIES for the USE of GEOBIM in PRACTICE

Although the use of location-based data (location coupled with semantic information) within Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and from Earth Observation (e.g. satellite) sources has been long established for decision makers, this has only recently been reflected in the construction sector with a more recent move from Computer Aided Design (CAD) to Building Information Modelling. BIM has opened up an additional source of valuable location-based data, with particular focus on the architecture, structural and engineering detail of both buildings and infrastructure projects. As with most if not all location data, while BIM can be used on its own, major benefits are to be derived from integration with other data sources. When this is done with GIS, the result is known as GeoBIM and although there are some similarities between the two, challenges to integration are both technical and non technical, in particular the need for clear case studies to motivate both developers and senior management. There are synergies to be gained from a multi-national, coordinated approach when addressing these challenges, where participants can benefit from each-others' experience and where the needs of users and the National Mapping and Cadastral Agency (NMCA) perspective underpin the research. This paper summarises final outcomes and findings of the EuroSDR GeoBIM research project, which was set up to provide the required multi-national, user-centric collaborative framework, which had as its overall aim the development of best practice guidelines for GeoBIM, and due to its situation within EuroSDR has an NMCA focus. The paper updates information with regard to GeoBIM projects and maturity in the participant countries, and provides an overview of the two case studies developed

Towards building a semantic formalization of (small) historical centres

Historical small urban centres are of increasing interest to different interacting fields such as architectural heritage protection and conservation, urban planning, disaster response, sustainable development and tourism. They are defined at different levels (international, national, regional), by various organizations and standards, incorporate numerous aspects (natural and built environment, infrastructures and open spaces, social, economic, and cultural processes, tangible and intangible heritage) and face various challenges (urbanization, globalization, mass tourism, climate change, etc.). However, their current specification within large-scale geospatial databases is similar to those of urban areas in a broad sense resulting in the loss of many aspects forming this multifaceted concept. The present study considers the available ontologies and data models, coming from various domains and having different granularities and levels of detail, to represent historical small urban centres information. The aim is to define the needs for extension and integration of them in order to develop a multidisciplinary, integrated semantic representation. Relevant conventions and other legislation documents, ontologies and standards for cultural heritage (CIDOC-CRM, CRMgeo, Getty Vocabularies), 3D city models (CityGML), building information models (IFC) and regional landscape plans are analysed to identify concepts, relations, and semantic features that could form a holistic semantic model of historical small urban centres

UAV PHOTOGRAMMETRY WITH OBLIQUE IMAGES: FIRST ANALYSIS ON DATA ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING

In recent years, many studies revealed the advantages of using airborne oblique images for obtaining improved 3D city models (e.g. including façades and building footprints). Expensive airborne cameras, installed on traditional aerial platforms, usually acquired the data. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possibility of acquire and use oblique images for the 3D reconstruction of a historical building, obtained by UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and traditional COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) digital cameras (more compact and lighter than generally used devices), for the realization of high-level-of-detail architectural survey. The critical issues of the acquisitions from a common UAV (flight planning strategies, ground control points, check points distribution and measurement, etc.) are described. Another important considered aspect was the evaluation of the possibility to use such systems as low cost methods for obtaining complete information from an aerial point of view in case of emergency problems or, as in the present paper, in the cultural heritage application field. The data processing was realized using SfM-based approach for point cloud generation: different dense image-matching algorithms implemented in some commercial and open source software were tested. The achieved results are analysed and the discrepancies from some reference LiDAR data are computed for a final evaluation. The system was tested on the S. Maria Chapel, a part of the Novalesa Abbey (Italy)

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH FOR POLLUTION MONITORING: SMART ACQUIREMENT AND SMART INFORMATION

Air quality is a factor of primary importance for the quality of life. The increase of the pollutants percentage in the air can cause serious problems to the human and environmental health. For this reason it is essential to monitor its values to prevent the consequences of an excessive concentration, to reduce the pollution production or to avoid the contact with major pollutant concentration through the available tools. Some recently developed tools for the monitoring and sharing of the data in an effective system permit to manage the information in a smart way, in order to improve the knowledge of the problem and, consequently, to take preventing measures in favour of the urban air quality and human health. In this paper, the authors describe an innovative solution that implements geomatics sensors (GNSS) and pollutant measurement sensors to develop a low cost sensor for the acquisition of pollutants dynamic data using a mobile platform based on bicycles. The acquired data can be analysed to evaluate the local distribution of pollutant density and shared through web platforms that use standard protocols for an effective smart use

A European Interoperable Database (EID) to increase resilience of Cultural Heritage

The set of laws, actions and organizations for Cultural Heritage (CH) protection is born in the different countries of the European Union from local cultural situations, so the ability to cope with the emergency is certainly different. In addition to the damages that can occur to cultural assets after a disaster, an inadequate emergency intervention can sometimes cause further losses to the CH. The effectiveness of response depends on the adequacy of advanced planning. Some countries have designed emergency plans but their databases (DBs) are fragmented, incomplete and not standardized. It is thus necessary to establish a DB for emergency assistance and maps of CH at risk to be compared with maps of natural hazards and risks, in order to take preventive and operational measures, as well as agree on a common terminology and international standards. The project aims to enhance the capability of Civil Protection to prevent disasters impacts on CH by implementing a European Interoperable Database (EID) as supporting decision tool to understand the risk of damage to cultural assets. The EID, starting from the international standards to represent the map objects (CityGML, INSPIRE), the classification of CH in Europe (UNESCO), in Italy (MiBACT), in Germany and in France and from risks and disasters analysis, will design, with its Conceptual Data Model, an extension of the INSPIRE UML model. This DB will also support 3D models to help finding and recognizing dispersed artworks and facilitate a post-emergency restoration, preserving thus a digital memory in case of destruction

Geobim benchmark 2019: Design and initial results

GeoBIM, the integration of 3D geoinformation (Geo) with building information models (BIM), is a subject of increasing attention in both domains. A well-known practical challenge for this integration is the mixed state of software support for open standards in each domain that would ease the integration. This is often known by practitioners but poorly documented. In order to solve this problem, we devised the GeoBIM benchmark, in which we compile the experiences of volunteering participants, who perform a guided study to test the software they are most familiar with against a few provided datasets structured in open standards. The aim of the tests is to improve the knowledge of the state of the art in the software support for GeoBIM open standards and to identify points for improvement. In this paper, we present the design of the benchmark, especially explaining and discussing the chosen data to be used with their connected issues to be tested, and some initial results