Quality assessment of underwater photogrammetric images for archeology purposes

Abstract

Archaeological data are usually inherently incomplete, heterogeneous, discontinuous and require frequent updates and possible adjustments. It is important to constantly create detailed documentation, which will precisely represent the actual situation. However, even the most precise figure is only an estimated representation of the documented object. Therefore, it is necessary to collect fully metric documentation and its professional archaeological interpretation. Acquiring correct and valuable underwaterdigital images for the archaeology purposes is not easy due to specific shooting conditions. It should be noted a number of limitations are unique to this type of imaging environment — the apparent extension of the focal length, the “disappearance” of colours, as well as a significant reduction in the transparency of the water environment. Therefore, the authors have made attempts to describe changes, in a much broader sense, in the quality of photogrammetric images that had been taken in various shooting conditions. Underwater and aerial images of two test fields were tested. First, the ground sampling distance of the INTOVA IC500 digital camera and the geometric accuracy of the acquired images were examined. Then, the impact of changes to the imaging conditions on the radio-metric resolution and colour projection were designated. In the last stage, the acquired images were used in practice — to assess the progress of the erosion process of an archaeological object, and also to comply its documentation in the form of vector drawing with the accuracy of mxy = ±0.5 mm. Keywords: photogrammetry and remote sensing, archaeology, underwater photogrammetry, resolution, ground resolved distance