Photogrammetric underwater and UAS surveys of archaeological sites: the case study of the Roman shipwreck of Torre Santa Sabina

The 2020 underwater archaeological research in the inlet of Torre Santa Sabina - Baia dei Camerini (Municipality of Carovigno, Brindisi, Italy) represented the first phase of the pilot intervention of the Interreg Italia-Croatia UnderwaterMuse project. The project aims to enhance and make accessible the vast underwater heritage of the areas involved; this will be done by creating submerged archaeological parks and using virtual reality's narrative and communicative tools and platforms. During the 2020 campaign, different survey activities were carried out using several techniques and methodology to produce the area's multi-scale documentation. First of all, the entire stretch of coast was mapped with UASs (Uncrewed Aerial Systems) flights to reconstruct the coastal landscape in various phases. Furthermore, an underwater photogrammetric survey carried out by expert scuba divers has been achieved in the wreck's aft area (the site analyzed during the 2020 excavation activities). The fruitful synergy between the various actors involved and the support of the territory and the community has allowed the achievement of this campaign's objectives, preliminary to the broader and more articulated intervention foreseen for the following year

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC UNDERWATER AND UAS SURVEYS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES: THE CASE STUDY OF THE ROMAN SHIPWRECK OF TORRE SANTA SABINA

The 2020 underwater archaeological research in the inlet of Torre Santa Sabina – Baia dei Camerini (Municipality of Carovigno, Brindisi, Italy) represented the first phase of the pilot intervention of the Interreg Italia-Croatia UnderwaterMuse project. The project aims to enhance and make accessible the vast underwater heritage of the areas involved; this will be done by creating submerged archaeological parks and using virtual reality's narrative and communicative tools and platforms. During the 2020 campaign, different survey activities were carried out using several techniques and methodology to produce the area's multi-scale documentation. First of all, the entire stretch of coast was mapped with UASs (Uncrewed Aerial Systems) flights to reconstruct the coastal landscape in various phases. Furthermore, an underwater photogrammetric survey carried out by expert scuba divers has been achieved in the wreck's aft area (the site analyzed during the 2020 excavation activities). The fruitful synergy between the various actors involved and the support of the territory and the community has allowed the achievement of this campaign's objectives, preliminary to the broader and more articulated intervention foreseen for the following year

Integrated imaging approaches supporting the excavation activities. Multi-scale geospatial documentation in hierapolis (TK)

The paper focuses on the exploration of the suitability and the discretization of applicability issues about advanced surveying integrated techniques, mainly based on image-based approaches compared and integrated to range-based ones that have been developed with the use of the cutting-edge solutions tested on field. The investigated techniques integrate both technological devices for 3D data acquisition and thus editing and management systems to handle metric models and multi-dimensional data in a geospatial perspective, in order to innovate and speed up the extraction of information during the archaeological excavation activities. These factors, have been experienced in the outstanding site of the Hierapolis of Phrygia ancient city (Turkey), downstream the 2017 surveying missions, in order to produce high-scale metric deliverables in terms of high-detailed Digital Surface Models (DSM), 3D continuous surface models and high-resolution orthoimages products. In particular, the potentialities in the use of UAV platforms for low altitude acquisitions in aerial photogrammetric approach, together with terrestrial panoramic acquisitions (Trimble V10 imaging rover), have been investigated with a comparison toward consolidated Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) measurements. One of the main purposes of the paper is to evaluate the results offered by the technologies used independently and using integrated approaches. A section of the study in fact, is specifically dedicated to experimenting the union of different sensor dense clouds: both dense clouds derived from UAV have been integrated with terrestrial Lidar clouds, to evaluate their fusion. Different test cases have been considered, representing typical situations that can be encountered in archaeological sites

Very light UAV data and ranging methods for heritage documentation. The teaching activities of a master’s degree course

Even more the 3D documentation of the Built Heritage is requested for several metric purposes and digitization objectives. In the last years according to the evolution of the recording and processing techniques producing a 3D model become quite straightforward and is important to understand how the process could be managed and controlled. With this aim, starting from 2008 in the architecture master’s course of the Politecnico di Torino a Geomatics workshop is offered to the students. The paper deal with the experience carried out during the a.y. 2018-2019 with the aim of integrating data acquired by a very light UAV and different range-based sensors for documenting an historical and stratified fortified architecture. The problems related with the flight authorization and the followed strategies for data acquisition using the UAV and the employed range-based sensors are discussed. In conclusion the achieved metric products and the analyses are reported

A multi‐scale approach to rural depopulation in Mexico

This paper aims to sketch rural population decline in Mexico. A comprehensive multi-scale documentation of Mexico's urban and rural fabric and its depopulation dynamics is undertaken. This paper does not identify the causes and effects of rural depopulation, but aims to detect its geographical presence in a manner which other approaches are unable to do. The granularity of rural depopulation is identified as manifested at four different scales: national, state, municipal, and local village scale. We use census data for the period 2000–2010. We relate rural depopulation to spatio-geographical features found in the literature; the relationship of depopulating territories with urban ones and the altitude range in which they are located. We find that proximity to and remoteness from urban areas as well as that of altitude do not follow the typical patterns often observed elsewhere. Unlike that shown in other countries, in Mexico, rural depopulation is manifested mostly in lower-lying areas and despite the fact that most of the country is at altitude. Rural depopulation and disappearance occur mainly in the areas of plains below 1,000 metres above sea level, regardless of the population density of the territories where they were located. Also, our multi-scaling approach has allowed us to identify not just at what scale the phenomenon of rural depopulation is observed, but also, to identify the areas in which the phenomenon is manifested regionally or locally. As we see, much of the phenomenon is concentrated in different areas to what national narratives suggest

From the ideal to the real : a pedagogical approach to managing tourist expectations with the ‘myplace4u’.

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Digital Recording of Historical Defensive Structures in Mountainous Areas Using Drones: Considerations and Comparisons

Digital recording of historic buildings and sites in mountainous areas could be challenging. The paper considers and discusses the case of historical defensive structures in the Italian Alps, designed and built to be not accessible. Drone images and photogrammetric techniques for 3D modeling play a fundamental role in the digital documentation of fortified constructions with non-contact techniques. This manuscript describes the use of drones for reconstructing the external surfaces of some fortified structures using traditional photogrammetric/SfM solutions and novel methods based on NeRFs. The case of direct orientation based on PPK and traditional GCPs placed on the ground is also discussed, considering the difficulties in placing and measuring control points in such environments