Advances in the digital recording of cultural monuments

Abstract

The last ten years or so have seen rapid advances in the techniques and technologies of photogrammetric imaging and resolution. Many of these advances have been generated by researchers working in the non-conventional areas of photogrammetric applications, including the use of photogrammetric recording as the basis of a documentation tool for cultural sites and monuments. This paper will review modern photogrammetric applications in the recording and documentation of buildings, monuments and sites. These applications include, but are not limited to, digital image enhancement, digital rectification and restitution, the derivation of three-dimensional CAD models from the photogrammetric record and the computer visualisation of cultural monuments. The paper will review research in progress, and give some case studies where photogrammetry is providing an important and successful documentation and investigation service.