A software tool for the semi-automatic segmentation of architectural 3D models with semantic annotation and Web fruition

Abstract

Semantic segmentation of 3D models of ancient and historic buildings and artifacts is an important modern Cultural Heritage topic. This work describes a software tool currently under development, for interactive and semi-automatic segmentation of 3D models produced by photogrammetric surveys. The system includes some generic and well-known segmentation approaches such as region growing and Locally Convex Connected Patches segmentation, but it also contains original code for specific semantic segmentation of parts of buildings, in particular circular-section columns and straight stairs. The software is modular, so allowing easy expandability. It also has tools for data encoding into formats ready for model fruition by Web technologies. These results were obtained in collaboration with Corvallis SPA (Padua – Italy, http://www.corvallis.it).