Abstract
Built cultural heritage is under constant threat due to environmental pressures, anthropogenic damages, and interventions. Understanding the preservation state of monuments and historical structures, and the factors that alter their architectural and structural characteristics through time, is crucial for ensuring their protection. Therefore, inspection and monitoring techniques are essential for heritage preservation, as they enable knowledge about the altering factors that put built cultural heritage at risk, by recording their immediate effects on monuments and historic structures. Nondestructive evaluations with close-range sensing techniques play a crucial role in monitoring. However, data recorded by different sensors are frequently processed separately, which hinders integrated use, visualization, and interpretation. This article’s aim is twofold: i) to present an overview of close-range sensing techniques frequently applied to evaluate built heritage conditions, and ii) to review the progress made regarding the fusion of multi-sensor data recorded by them. Particular emphasis is given to the integration of data from metric surveying and from recording techniques that are traditionally non-metric. The article attempts to shed light on the problems of the individual and integrated use of image-based modeling, laser scanning, thermography, multispectral imaging, ground penetrating radar, and ultrasonic testing, giving heritage practitioners a point of reference for the successful implementation of multidisciplinary approaches for built cultural heritage scientific investigations.
Highlights
The maintenance and conservation of historic structures are elaborate tasks filled with challenges
The need for multidisciplinary inspection methodologies is frequently noted in the literature, mainly in application cases of built cultural heritage of outstanding value, 4.0/)
Recognizing the importance of the historical built environment’s sustainability, and the contribution of implementing multi-sensor approaches for non-destructive surveys of historic structures as part of the protection process, this paper presents a review of close-range sensing methods for inspecting and monitoring their state of preservation
Summary
The maintenance and conservation of historic structures are elaborate tasks filled with challenges. Close-range sensing-based methods (including techniques for geometric recording) employed for built heritage surveys are often considered as separate practices. Their integration enhances the interpretation of the state of preservation, as many evaluation methods can act complementarily [7,8,9,10,11,12]. Recognizing the importance of the historical built environment’s sustainability, and the contribution of implementing multi-sensor approaches for non-destructive surveys of historic structures as part of the protection process, this paper presents a review of close-range sensing methods for inspecting and monitoring their state of preservation. The advantages and limitations of individual close-range sensing techniques and multi-sensor data fusion strategies are highlighted (and some direct perspectives are attempted)
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