Towards an Ontology for Annotating Degradation Phenomena

In the field of built heritage, a huge amount of data describes the state of monuments: documentary data (texts, sounds, images) as well as analytic data from sensors, provides historical, archeological and constructive information. These data, produced by experts coming from several fields, are the foundation for the creation of new information through scientific observations. The problem is that these data are not related nor spatialized. Nowadays we are able to generate extreme accurate 3D model with throughout images-based or laser scanner acquisition. However these 3D models do not carry information regarding their morphological complexities. The design of an ontology for the conservation domain seems to be the best solution in order to obtain understandable entities thanks to their own data related between them. This article present the first attempt of a development of a web information system based on spatialized images semantic annotations tool, related to a domain ontology describing knowledge regarding stone degradation phenomena. Our approach is to produce a domain ontology able to document and therefore provide a framework able to help the decision-making process of experts in the cultural heritage conservation domain. The information annotated with the use of this ontology can enrich not only the scientific observations, but also to help to create new knowledge. In this way, it is possible to link and gather quantitative and qualitative aspect into only one information system. We will propose several example and queries able to exploit the reasoning power of the above information system

An ontological model for the reality-based 3D annotation of heritage building conservation state

The conservation and restoration of historical monuments require a diagnostic analysis carried out by amultidisciplinary team. The results of the diagnosis include data produced by different techniques andprotocols, which are used by conservation scientists to assess the built heritage. Nowadays, together withthe aforementioned data, a great deal of heterogeneous information is also available, including descriptiveand contextual information, as well as 2D/3D geometrical restitution of the studied object. However, theintegration of these diverse data into a unique information model capable of fully describing the buildingconservation state, as well as integrating future data, is still an open issue within the Cultural Heritagecommunity. It is of paramount importance to correlate these data and spatialize them in order to providescientists in charge of our heritage with a practical and easy means to explore the information usedduring their assessment, as well as a way to record their scientific observation and share them withintheir community of practice. In order to resolve this issue, we developed a correlation pipeline for theintegration of the semantic, spatial and morphological dimension of a built heritage. The pipeline uses anontological model for recording and integrating multidisciplinary observations of the conservation stateinto structural data spatialized into a semantic-aware 3D representation. The pipeline was successfullytested on the Saint Maurice church of Caromb in the south of France, integrating into a unique spatialrepresentation information about material and alteration phenomena, providing users with a means tocorrelate, and more importantly retrieve several types of information

Laying the foundations for an information system dedicated to heritage building degradation monitoring based on the 2D/3D semantic annotation of photographs

In the last decade many 3D digitization techniques have emerged allowing the generation of dense and precise digital representations of historical building. However, regardless their level of geometric accuracy or visual realism, 3D models are not yet fully adapted to the conservation analysis purposes. In fact, even if a 3D model can be considered an efficient way to accurately record the state of a building, its potentiality in terms of semantic annotation and spatial distribution of heterogeneous data still remain almost unexplored today. Since several years, photographs appear to be a flexible and well diffused portable support for the heritage documentation. They are a natural medium to annotate and compare temporal states. Thanks to the recent advances in photogrammetry computer vision and augmented reality, photographs can be also considered as an excellent support for accurate spatial localization. This article presents the first principles for the development of an information system to monitor the historic building degradation based on three main components: a high dynamic range (HDR) imagebased automatic pipeline, an hybrid (2D/3D) semantic annotation method and a domain ontology describing knowledge related to degradation phenomena. The innovative integration of these main components allows us to introduce the notion of ”informative continuum” as a key for interconnecting spatialized and semanticallyenriched photographs to populate a knowledge base on the building degradation. The first steps of this on-going project are illustrated by an experimentation carried out on the Caromb church in the south of France

Vers une ontologie de domaine pour l’analyse de l’état de conservation du bâti patrimonial

Les pratiques de conservation et restauration de monuments historiques requièrent l’élaboration de diagnostics impliquant une multitude d’experts au sein de contextes d’études pluridisciplinaires. L’état de conservation d’un objet patrimonial est décrit au moyen d’observations directes impliquant des sources documentaires et des données analytiques hétérogènes. Parallèlement, si de nouveaux outils permettent aux différents experts de mémoriser et d’analyser leurs observations sur différents supports, les données générées par ces différents acteurs ne sont généralement ni reliées ni spatialisées autour d’un unique support de référence. De plus, aujourd’hui, il est possible de générer des entités 3D denses et précises, mais isolées, ces représentations spatiales ne sont pas suffisantes pour répondre aux exigences d’observation réelle des acteurs de la conservation. Ce constat montre l’absence de cadres opérationnels pour l’extraction d’informations pertinentes pour l’analyse et l’interprétation de l’état de conservation. La nécessité de créer un support d’analyse commun est donc au centre des préoccupations. C’est la raison pour laquelle la création d’une ontologie dans le domaine de la conservation semble être une solution innovante non seulement pour rendre intelligibles des représentations spatiales brutes, mais également pour permettre d’introduire la notion de continuum informationnel. Par l’interconnexion de descripteurs qualitatifs (par une formalisation des connaissances partagées) et quantitatifs, l’ontologie de domaine constitue l’échafaudage conceptuel pour clarifier l’ensemble des interrelations qui permettent par combinaison de décrire les phénomènes de dégradation du bâti.The conservation and restoration of historic monuments require diagnostic analysis carried out by multidisciplinary teams. The elaboration of this diagnosis of a cultural heritage object involves direct observation, the examination of documentary sources and of diverse types of analytical data. While new tools now allow various experts to store and analyse their observations on different media, the data generated by these different actors is generally not linked to a unique reference, nor spatialized around it. Today, it is possible to generate dense and precise 3D models, but these spatial representations are not adequate for the requirements of real observations of conservation actors. This observation pinpoints the lack of operational frameworks for the capture of information pertaining to the analysis and interpretation of a state of conservation. The need to create a common analytical support is therefore central to these concerns. This is why the creation of an ontology in the field of conservation seems to be an innovative solution not only for making raw spatial representations intelligible, but also for introducing the notion of an informational continuum. By the interconnection of descriptors that are both qualitative (formalising shared knowledge) and quantitative, domain ontology constitutes the conceptual scaffolding which can help clarify all the interrelationships that, by combination, allow for a description of building degradation phenomena

Proposition d’une ontologie de domaine dédiée à l’annotation d’images spatialisées pour le suivi de la conservation du patrimoine culturel bâti

The conservation and restauration of historical monuments require a diagnostic analysis carried out by a multidisciplinary team. The elaboration of the diagnosis of a cultural Heritage Object requires direct observations, the examination of documentary sources as well as of diverse types of analytic data. The great advancements in digital processing, management and data collection opened unprecedented opportunities for integrating results, coming from both observations and derivative data, within innovating representation systems for heritage knowledge and documentation. However, if a range of new tools and data is today available to the scientific community and heritage experts, their correlation and integration with internal/external heterogeneous information is an issue that still remain unexplored. While these innovative tools allow different experts to record and analyze their observations with diverse formats, the results are generally not spatialized and referenced together. Indeed, even though all these data refer to a common physical object, the links between them is based only on file organization strategies or by keyword-based indexation methods. In parallel, in recent years, several 3D digitization technics has been used for generating dense and accurate geometrical representations, but the processing and structuration method of these 3D data don’t include yet an operational framework for retrieving relevant information regarding their conservation state and an interpretative analysis. Positioned in the intersection between 3D spatialized acquisition domain and information management, this research work aims to the creation of a digital framework for recording conservation state description of historical monument throughout the introduction of a functional domain ontology for the semantic annotations of heritage objects 3D representations. The proposed ontology comprises both qualitative (related to a domain knowledge formalization) and quantitative descriptors, constituting the necessary conceptual scaffold for structuring a multidimensional information system dedicated to the correlation of spatial, geometrical and semantic multi-actor annotations in relation to multiple observation levels.Les pratiques de conservation et restauration de monuments historiques requièrent l’élaboration de diagnostics impliquant différents intervenants au sein de contextes d’études pluridisciplinaires. L’état de conservation d’un objet patrimonial est ainsi étudié et décrit au moyen d’observations directes, de sources documentaires et de données analytiques de natures différentes. Les avancées des technologies numériques en matière de collecte, traitement et gestion de données, offrent aujourd’hui une opportunité sans précédent pour intégrer les résultats de ces observations et ces données au sein de systèmes innovants de représentation pour la documentation et la connaissance du patrimoine. Cependant, si une panoplie de nouveaux outils est aujourd’hui à disposition de la communauté des scientifiques et des professionnels du patrimoine, le problème d’une corrélation pertinente de ces données et de ces informations hétérogènes reste peu exploré. Tout d’abord, si ces nouveaux outils permettent aux différents experts de mémoriser et d’analyser leurs observations sur différents supports, les données générées par ces différents experts ne sont généralement pas spatialisées autour d’un même référentiel spatial. En effet, même si toutes ces données se réfèrent à un objet physique commun, les liens entre elles ne peuvent que s’établir par des stratégies d’organisation de fichiers ou par des méthodes d’indexation basées sur des mots clés. Parallèlement, si dans les dernières années plusieurs techniques de numérisation 3D ont été expérimentées dans le but de générer des représentations géométriques denses et précises, les méthodes de traitement et de structuration de ces données 3D ne fournissent pas encore de cadres opérationnels pour l’extraction d'informations pertinentes pour l’analyse et l’interprétation de l’état de conservation. En se positionnant à l'intersection entre les domaines de l’acquisition spatialisée 3D et des systèmes d’informations, ce travail de recherche propose une ontologie de domaine dédiée à l’annotation sémantique de représentations 3D d’objets patrimoniaux visant à la constitution d’un environnement numérique pour la description de l’état de conservation des monuments historiques. Par l’interconnexion de descripteurs qualitatifs (reliés à une formalisation des connaissances du domaine) et qualitatifs, cette ontologie constitue l'échafaudage conceptuel structurant un système d’informations multidimensionnelles dédié à la corrélation spatiale, géométrique et sémantique de jeux d’annotations élaborés par des acteurs multiples et en fonction de niveaux de lecture multiples

Proposition to a domain ontology dedicated to spatialized images annotations for the building cultural heritage conseravtion monitoring

Les pratiques de conservation et restauration de monuments historiques requièrent l’élaboration de diagnostics impliquant différents intervenants au sein de contextes d’études pluridisciplinaires. L’état de conservation d’un objet patrimonial est ainsi étudié et décrit au moyen d’observations directes, de sources documentaires et de données analytiques de natures différentes. Les avancées des technologies numériques en matière de collecte, traitement et gestion de données, offrent aujourd’hui une opportunité sans précédent pour intégrer les résultats de ces observations et ces données au sein de systèmes innovants de représentation pour la documentation et la connaissance du patrimoine. Cependant, si une panoplie de nouveaux outils est aujourd’hui à disposition de la communauté des scientifiques et des professionnels du patrimoine, le problème d’une corrélation pertinente de ces données et de ces informations hétérogènes reste peu exploré. Tout d’abord, si ces nouveaux outils permettent aux différents experts de mémoriser et d’analyser leurs observations sur différents supports, les données générées par ces différents experts ne sont généralement pas spatialisées autour d’un même référentiel spatial. En effet, même si toutes ces données se réfèrent à un objet physique commun, les liens entre elles ne peuvent que s’établir par des stratégies d’organisation de fichiers ou par des méthodes d’indexation basées sur des mots clés. Parallèlement, si dans les dernières années plusieurs techniques de numérisation 3D ont été expérimentées dans le but de générer des représentations géométriques denses et précises, les méthodes de traitement et de structuration de ces données 3D ne fournissent pas encore de cadres opérationnels pour l’extraction d'informations pertinentes pour l’analyse et l’interprétation de l’état de conservation. En se positionnant à l'intersection entre les domaines de l’acquisition spatialisée 3D et des systèmes d’informations, ce travail de recherche propose une ontologie de domaine dédiée à l’annotation sémantique de représentations 3D d’objets patrimoniaux visant à la constitution d’un environnement numérique pour la description de l’état de conservation des monuments historiques. Par l’interconnexion de descripteurs qualitatifs (reliés à une formalisation des connaissances du domaine) et qualitatifs, cette ontologie constitue l'échafaudage conceptuel structurant un système d’informations multidimensionnelles dédié à la corrélation spatiale, géométrique et sémantique de jeux d’annotations élaborés par des acteurs multiples et en fonction de niveaux de lecture multiples.The conservation and restauration of historical monuments require a diagnostic analysis carried out by a multidisciplinary team. The elaboration of the diagnosis of a cultural Heritage Object requires direct observations, the examination of documentary sources as well as of diverse types of analytic data. The great advancements in digital processing, management and data collection opened unprecedented opportunities for integrating results, coming from both observations and derivative data, within innovating representation systems for heritage knowledge and documentation. However, if a range of new tools and data is today available to the scientific community and heritage experts, their correlation and integration with internal/external heterogeneous information is an issue that still remain unexplored. While these innovative tools allow different experts to record and analyze their observations with diverse formats, the results are generally not spatialized and referenced together. Indeed, even though all these data refer to a common physical object, the links between them is based only on file organization strategies or by keyword-based indexation methods. In parallel, in recent years, several 3D digitization technics has been used for generating dense and accurate geometrical representations, but the processing and structuration method of these 3D data don’t include yet an operational framework for retrieving relevant information regarding their conservation state and an interpretative analysis. Positioned in the intersection between 3D spatialized acquisition domain and information management, this research work aims to the creation of a digital framework for recording conservation state description of historical monument throughout the introduction of a functional domain ontology for the semantic annotations of heritage objects 3D representations. The proposed ontology comprises both qualitative (related to a domain knowledge formalization) and quantitative descriptors, constituting the necessary conceptual scaffold for structuring a multidimensional information system dedicated to the correlation of spatial, geometrical and semantic multi-actor annotations in relation to multiple observation levels

Reconstruction géométrique sémantique basée sur les connaissances d'artefacts patrimoniaux

National audienceLe projet Urbania et le projet Palse s'inscrivent tous deux dans une dimension numérique innovante dans l'objectif d’élaborer des méthodes produisant une chaîne de traitement allant de l’acquisition jusqu’à la reconstruction tridimensionnelle sémantique d’artefacts patrimoniaux

Laying the foundations for an information system dedicated to heritage building degradation monitoring based on the 2D/3D semantic annotation of photographs

International audienceIn the last decade many 3D digitization techniques have emerged allowing the generation of dense and precise digital representations of historical building. However, regardless their level of geometric accuracy or visual realism, 3D models are not yet fully adapted to the conservation analysis purposes. In fact, even if a 3D model can be considered an efficient way to accurately record the state of a building, its potentiality in terms of semantic annotation and spatial distribution of heterogeneous data still remain almost unexplored today. Since several years, photographs appear to be a flexible and well diffused portable support for the heritage documentation. They are a natural medium to annotate and compare temporal states. Thanks to the recent advances in photogrammetry computer vision and augmented reality, photographs can be also considered as an excellent support for accurate spatial localization. This article presents the first principles for the development of an information system to monitor the historic building degradation based on three main components: a high dynamic range (HDR) imagebased automatic pipeline, an hybrid (2D/3D) semantic annotation method and a domain ontology describing knowledge related to degradation phenomena. The innovative integration of these main components allows us to introduce the notion of ”informative continuum” as a key for interconnecting spatialized and semanticallyenriched photographs to populate a knowledge base on the building degradation. The first steps of this on-going project are illustrated by an experimentation carried out on the Caromb church in the south of France