Abstract
Abstract. The protection and management of archaeological sites require from a deep documentation and analysis, and although hand measuring and documentation is the cheapest way for collecting data, laser scanner has been gradually integrated for the geometrical data capture since point clouds have a high quality in terms of accuracy, precision and resolution. Although acquisition with laser scanner is considered a quick process, scan planning is of high relevance when considering outdoor archaeological sites because of their large size and complexity. In this paper, an automatic methodology to optimize the number and position of scans in order to obtain a point cloud of high quality in terms of data completeness is proposed. The aim of the methodology is to minimize the number of scans, minimizing at the same time the estimated surveying time and the amount of repetitive acquired data. Scan candidates are generated by using a grid-based and a triangulation-based distribution, and results show a faster analysis when triangulation is implemented. The methodology is tested into two real case studies from Italy and Spain, showing the applicability of scan planning in archaeological sites.
Highlights
Archaeological sites especially those outdoor sites are vulnerable to changing weather patterns and other environmental hazards, and their protection and management includes a deep characterization and analysis
In the recent years, laser scanner has been proposed for the geometrical data capture since point clouds have a high quality in terms of accuracy, precision and resolution
This paper proposes the implementation of a methodology to optimize the number and position of scans in order to obtain a point cloud of high quality in terms of data completeness and density, and optimizing surveying time
Summary
Archaeological sites especially those outdoor sites are vulnerable to changing weather patterns and other environmental hazards, and their protection and management includes a deep characterization and analysis. A major concern in the scanning procedure is the quality in terms of data completeness and the cost in terms of time, especially for big archaeological sites For those reason a good planning of the scan location is of primary importance for a successful survey. Nagatani et al (2010) focus on outdoor scan planning of large buildings by using a mobile robot None of those methods is designed for acquisition or archaeological sites. This paper proposes the implementation of a methodology to optimize the number and position of scans in order to obtain a point cloud of high quality in terms of data completeness and density, and optimizing surveying time.
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