A Methodology for Tracing Lived-in Urban Heritage based on GPS and Satellite Image Processing Technology

Abstract

The process of urbanization and urban development in cities at an alarming rate pose numerous challenges for preservation and conservation of lived-in urban heritage therein. With the increasing demand for land and the resultant emphasis given to direct economic value of urban land, the significance of urban history and heritage in cities is underrated in the process of urban development. However, the aesthetic, cultural and heritage value they bring into cities are enormous and crucial for the sustenance of a city in terms of its history, image and identity. It has been a challenging task for urban Engineers, Architects and policy makers to trace historical monuments and help them preserve in cities. In this backdrop, this study intends to introduce a technology driven methodology to investigate on disappearing urban heritage and help to trace its original form and structure so that future preservation strategies could be implemented based on the same. For this purpose, we studied the remains of the 15th Century Citadel Ramparts of the Kotte Kingdom in the suburban Colombo, using Magellan Meridian GPS technology, ArcGIS ArcMap software and satellite image processing techniques. The results show that this methodology is appropriate, with certain limitations, in tracing the original form and structure of the historic Citadel Rampart in historic Kotte Kingdom in Colombo. In this paper, we discuss the systematic approach we adopted and the data processing techniques we used in our study.