Abstract
Structure from motion (SFM) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are two technologies which are well suited for archaeological documentation purposes and complementing each other very well. In the following, we would like to give an overview of the methods, systems, and software available as well as two short practical applications for archaeology and geography. UAS are usually small drones for aerial imaging and video. The UAS section will give an overview on the systems available, restrictions, and challenges, but the focus will be on the capabilities of drones for different purposes. SFM is a subset of the wide field of photogrammetry, using photos to calculate 3D data of the objects pictured. A selection of both free-to-use and commercial software will be introduced, while the main part of the SFM section will be discussing the basic work flow. It covers taking the photos, restoration of the camera positions in 3D space, and creating a surface from the computed point cloud. The combination of both techniques to create 3D models of places or parts of buildings barely reachable is addressed then. Examples from excavations and the documentation of the King’s Hall at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Lorsch Abbey will follow. The last part will show the future possibilities with new technologies, new software, and some challenges for the future.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The selection of the systems is based on the author’s experience with the different manufacturers. While in the process of writing this contribution, the author started to work at MAVinci GmbH but tries to be as impartial as possible.
- 3.
A system to adjust and stabilize the camera to compensate UAS movements
- 4.
For information on this topic, a good starting point is to search for pole aerial photography.
- 5.
The author would like to thank Dr. K. Papajanni (TU Munich, Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Hessen) and Dr. H. Schefers (Site manager, World Heritage Site Lorsch Abbey) for the possibility and support of testing.
- 6.
A short overview for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland is available at Mikrokopter.de: http://wiki.mikrokopter.de/rechtlicheGrundlagen
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Seitz, C. (2018). Combined Aerial and Ground-Based Structure from Motion for Cultural Heritage Documentation. In: Siart, C., Forbriger, M., Bubenzer, O. (eds) Digital Geoarchaeology. Natural Science in Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25316-9_10
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