Tracing Roman Roads through LiDAR and Aerial Photography: the Case of Via XVIII in the Allariz-Maceda Region

Research Article| August 01, 1943 Bibliography on the interpretation of aerial photographs and recent bibliographies on aerial photography and related subjects GENEVIEVE C. COBB GENEVIEVE C. COBB Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar GSA Bulletin (1943) 54 (8): 1195–1210. https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAB-54-1195 Article history first online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation GENEVIEVE C. COBB; Bibliography on the interpretation of aerial photographs and recent bibliographies on aerial photography and related subjects. GSA Bulletin 1943;; 54 (8): 1195–1210. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAB-54-1195 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract FOREWORDAerial photography has assumed such importance in the fields of science, industry, and war that it is necessary for many persons with little or no knowledge of this subject to make use of it either in teaching or practice. The literature on the reading and interpretation of aerial photographs is not voluminous, but it is so widely scattered through such diverse scientific and technical journals and books that it is difficult for an individual to assemble it quickly for study or use.This bibliography lists the most useful references in those fields in which aerial photographs are used. It is by no means complete. For those who wish to search further there is included a list of recent bibliographies on aerial photography which contain many references on interpretation. The subject index provides a rough classification of the references under 11 general groups.The collection of the material for this . . . This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

For many years, a group of the Association des Archéologues de Lot-et-Garonne (AA47) has been working on roman roads in the Nitiobroges’ territory. This paper presents the results of research on the course of the Aginnum-Divona road, the only ancient one in Lot-et-Garonne to have delivered a milestone but which is not however mentioned in the Itineraries. Since the Middle Ages, it has been known as Camino na Bruniquel. The investigation was based on archives, ancient maps and cadastres and on the interpretations of aerial photographs and satellite images combined with field reconnaissance. This Camino has been systematically followed on its presumed course from Agen to the limit of the Nitiobroges’ territory, in order to locate the possible still existing sections of the roman road in situ. This work has been regularly transmitted in reports to the SRA.

Potential and limitations of LiDAR altimetry in archaeological survey. Copper Age and Bronze Age settlements in southern Iberia

Landslides are destructive and annually recurring phenomena which cause substantial property damage, disruption of traffic and fatalities along transport arteries in the central provinces of Vietnam. The production of a landslide inventory map is a very important preliminary step to determine landslide susceptibility, hazard, and risk assessment. There are a number of methods for producing landslide inventory maps, such as geomorphological field mapping and visual interpretation of stereoscopic aerial photographs. The exact choice of method depends on the quality of collected data, type of data, purpose of the map, map scale and availability of aerial photographs etc. In this paper, visual interpretation of stereoscopic aerial photography is used to prepare an inventory map because of the type of data collected on landslide occurrence. These features are clearly discernible in terms of morphological features that manifest as changes in the form, shape and appearance of the topographic surface. Most of these features can be recognized and appropriately classified through the interpretation of aerial photographs. 523 landslides are identified and based on these features were classified into five categories as follows: (i) rotational slide, (ii) translational slide, (iii) compound slide, (iv) debris slide and, (v) debris flow.

This chapter will analyze the landscape spatial attributes where the Roman city of Bracara Augusta (Braga) was established. Following a multidisciplinary approach, we will focus on the formal relationships between the elements, emphasizing the Roman road network. We will explain the structural importance of “Via XIX,” which linked Bracara Augusta to Lucus Augusti (Lugo), in the territorial organization from the Roman period. We will proceed with the Late Antiquity occupation analysis by reflecting on the accuracy of certain topological connections between territorial markers previously identified. We will finish with some considerations regarding the subsequent development during the Middle Age to contextualize this axis’s significance within the framework of general relationships defined in the territory. Our main goal is to argue about how “Via XIX” resulted, in fact, in the establishment of a structural alignment that determined specific features still legible in the landscape, capable of interfering in the contemporary space relationships. Through the concept of “transmission,” we will develop an analysis oriented towards architectural intervention. Our methodological approach will allow us to reflect on the concepts of tradition and innovation in a broader context by thinking about the territorial transformation through the landscape’s narrative predisposition.

Routes across the Civitas Menapiorum: using least cost paths and GIS to locate the Roman roads of Sandy Flanders

The forest snow damage is the disaster which is caused by load of the snow that adheres to a tree canopy, and results in fallen trees. When snow damages occur, an administration needs to identify damaged areas. However the current investigation method relies on a ground survey, which is difficult to grasp the conditions of wide areas. In this study, we developed a forest snow damaged area detection method using high resolution satellite optical sensor imagery and LiDAR data. The method consists of following procedures, (1) detection of damaged areas using satellite optical sensor imagery by a discreet choice model, (2) detection of gap areas using DSM and DEM generated by the LiDAR data, and (3) assimilation of (1) and (2) . The assimilation of (1) and (2) enables the mutual complementation of each other's defects. The method was examined on the IKONOS multispectral imagery and the LiDAR data in the test area. Accuracy assessment was conducted from the aspect of omission and commission. From the aspect of omission, accuracy was evaluated by comparing the 50 randomly selected pixels of the result with aerial photograph interpretation. 47 pixels of 50 (94%) were correctly detected. From the aspect of commission, accuracy was evaluated by examining the result of (3) detection in 56 randomly selected pixels which damage was observed in aerial photography. 46 pixels of 56 (82.1%) were correctly detected. From these results, the method achieved high accuracy, and the effectiveness of the combination was demonstrated.

This study presents an approach that uses airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) data and aerial imagery for creating a digital terrain model (DTM) and for extracting building objects. The process of creating the DTM from lidar data requires four steps in this study: pre-processing, segmentation, extraction of ground points, and refinement. In the pre-processing step, raw data are transformed to raster data. For segmentation, we propose a new mean planar filter (MPF) that uses a 3 × 3 kernel to divide lidar data into planar and nonplanar surfaces. For extraction of ground points, a new method to extract additional ground points in forest areas is used, thus improving the accuracy of the DTM. The refinement process further increases the accuracy of the DTM by repeated comparison of a temporary DTM and the digital surface model. After the DTM is generated, building objects are extracted via a proposed three-step process: detection of high objects, removal of forest areas, and removal of small areas. High objects are extracted using the height threshold from the normalized digital surface model. To remove forest areas from among the high objects, an aerial image and normalized digital surface model from the lidar data are used in a supervised classification. Finally, an area-based filter eliminates small areas, such as noise, thus extracting building objects. To evaluate the proposed method, we applied this and three other methods to five sites in different environments. The experiment showed that the proposed method leads to a notable increase in accuracy over three other methods when compared with the in situ reference data.

Forest composition and vertical structure provide essential information for understanding ecological states and processes in forest ecosystems. Recent development of lidar (light detection and ranging) technologies has led to applications of lidar in forest canopy structure investigations. The objective of this study was to develop a method to derive forest canopy height using a laser scanning instrument. Lidar data, acquired using a Leica ALS40 airborne laser scanner, of a deciduous forest were used in this study. In order to assess the capability of lidar for estimating canopy height of forest stands, a digital surface model derived from the local maximum of lidar data was compared to a digital surface model generated using a photogrammetric technique. In addition, forest canopy heights, represented by differences in the digital surface models and a 4-m digital elevation model, were calculated and compared for these 2 types of data. The results indicated that the canopy height generated from the lidar data was higher than that of the aerial photos, and the mean difference was about 0.22 m with a standard deviation of 2.59 m.

In contrast to the neighboring Roman Empire, no centralized sites in the sense of transregionally significant settlements are definitively verifiable outside of the Limes Germanicus in the research area at the middle Main River. However, some fortified hill forts do exist. Starting in late antiquity, these sites were temporarily occupied in times of internal and external conflict. Hill forts in the Babaricum were, without exception, sited on spurs at the Main or its tributaries. The course of the Main River constituted the primary transport route for the Romans into the Babaricum, although clear evidence of ship or harbor facilities has yet to be discovered for this period. The well-known hierarchical settlement and road system in the Roman Empire is not apparent in the Babaricum although numerous sunken roads in multiple path networks were discernible. Precise dating of these features to the Roman Iron Age or Migration Period has not been possible due to heavy soil erosion in the vicinity. Particular stretches of this network of paths were only seasonally in use depending on weather conditions and soil moisture, and so it is not realistic to discuss roadways as usable year-round in the Babaricum as they are in the Roman Empire. Some of these paths were fortified, although the dating of these fortifications is not possible due to the continued use of some of these pathways into the Early Modern Period. Nearest neighbor settlement relationships are methodically analyzed in network connection diagrams with the use of Delaunay triangulation in this GIS-based study. Probable routes by land and river are calculated with lost cost path analysis on the basis of digital surface models and compared with the local archaeological record.

Tidal channel networks play an important role in the intertidal zone, exerting substantial control over the hydrodynamics and sediment transport of the region and hence over the evolution of the salt marshes and tidal flats. The study of the morphodynamics of tidal channels is currently an active area of research, and a number of theories have been proposed which require for their validation measurement of channels over extensive areas. Remotely sensed data provide a suitable means for such channel mapping. The paper describes a technique that may be adapted to extract tidal channels from either aerial photographs or LiDAR data separately, or from both types of data used together in a fusion approach. Application of the technique to channel extraction from LiDAR data has been described previously. However, aerial photographs of intertidal zones are much more commonly available than LiDAR data, and most LiDAR flights now involve acquisition of multispectral images to complement the LiDAR data. In view of this, the paper investigates the use of multispectral data for semi‐automatic identification of tidal channels, firstly from only aerial photographs or linescanner data, and secondly from fused linescanner and LiDAR data sets. A multi‐level, knowledge‐based approach is employed. The algorithm based on aerial photography can achieve a useful channel extraction, though may fail to detect some of the smaller channels, partly because the spectral response of parts of the non‐channel areas may be similar to that of the channels. The algorithm for channel extraction from fused LiDAR and spectral data gives an increased accuracy, though only slightly higher than that obtained using LiDAR data alone. The results illustrate the difficulty of developing a fully automated method, and justify the semi‐automatic approach adopted.

This is the result of applied remote sensing for geological study the mass wasting in Karangkobar, the district of Banjarnegara, Central Java. The study on the mass wasting use the remote sensing method, by interpreting the blackwhite panhromatic aerial photographs, on the scale 1 : 50,000. The study is aimed at 1) revealing the capacity of the aerial photograph in supporting the study the mass wasting that an be identified by the aerial photographs; 2) to find out the influence of the physical environment and land-use on the mass wasting processes. The study in performed by using the visual interpretation method of the scale 1 : 50,000 black-white panchromati aerial photograph taken in 1994, using mirror stereoscope. The outcome of the aerial photograph interpretation is varis the quality of data and information. The data of interpretation of aerial photograph and the varis outcome in the spot are further tested in terms of its accuracy, particularly in its reltion with the aerial photograph interpretation. The technique of data analysis of the physical environment and the mass wasting is descriptive – comparative. The result of the study shows that the 1 : 50,000 black-white panchromatic aerial photograph can be used to identify and study both the mass wasting and influence of the physical environment on the mass wasting processes. The degree of identifying the mass wasting based on the aerial photograph interpretation is 75%. Compared to the previous studies, the present study hows that the mass wasting can be identified more easily by means of the 1 : 50,000 black – white panchromatic aerial photograph. Identifying the distribution of mass wasting are: a) the geological element (rock, geological structure, and stratigraphy); b) geomorphological elements (landform and the forming processes); the water condition (surface water and groundwater); and landuse (type and distribution). White marl – claystone type is the physical environmentsal element that has the most type is the physical environmentsal element that has the most dominant influence on the occuring of mass wasting in Karangkobar area.

Although some parts of Gaul have given rise to research programmes leading to the reconstruction of an extremely tight-knit Roman road network, it has to be acknowledged that this was not true of the cities of central Gascony in Antiquity. Even if many notable routes have been proposed in earlier works, only the major roads connecting the main cities of the civitates are concerned here, which are the only ones documented, even partially, by the itinerary sources and by archaeology. One such road, linking from north to south Aginnum (Agen) and Lugdunum (Saint-Bertrand-de Comminges), referred to in the Antonine Itinerary has prompted sporadic research summarized here around the course of the road and the sites bordering it in the civitates of Auch and Lectoure. THE COURSE OF THE ROAD FROM AUCH TO SAINT-BERTRAND-DE-COMMINGES. Although the course of the Auch (Elimberrum)/Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges (Lugdunum) road has given rise to many reconstructions based essentially on topographic and toponymic appraisals, the discovery of the Constantinian milestone of Castelnau-Magnoac and the consideration of archaeological data in identifying the road station of Belsino have contributed to the advancement of knowledge of this line of communication (fig. 1). While no station is shown in the Antonine Itinerary between Auch and Agen, the Belsino station lay on the Auch/Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges road. Among the localities suggested, only that of the sites of Les Tuileries at Samaran is worth any toponymic and archaeological consideration. The name Belsino, of Iberian origin, gave Boussens in French, derived from the medieval forms Belsen and Bolsen attested in the twelfth-century cartulary of Berdoues on the location of the Les Tuilieries site. Archaeologically, mention is made as from the nineteenth century of the remains of a roadway with a “paved” surface. Above all, a recent field-walking survey has confirmed the existence of a large site, probably an agglomeration of sorts occupied from the end of the Iron Age until late Antiquity. The proximity of the site of Les Tuileries and the Castelnau-Magnoac milestone, just 4 km apart, and located in a similar topographical position, that is, on the upper part of the slope along the left bank of the River Gers, lends support to the idea of the roadway running along the western heights of the Gers valley. However, the exact course of the road cannot be reconstructed and so mapped for want of archaeological evidence of the roadway. However, data from the archaeological maps make the hypotheses likely : apart from the site of Les Tuileries, three other sites lie along this route or not far off it. In particular, the road serves or skirts sites occupied in the late Iron Age. Accordingly, the line along the hill crest must have formed a native trackway that could have served as a basis for the road of the imperial period. THE COURSE OF THE ROAD FROM AUCH TO LECTOURE. The first source that we can reasonably attribute to the Auch-Lectoure road segment (fig. 3), the Crastes milestone, it too from the time of Constantine, was not found on the supposed course of the road. Serving as a stand for the font in the church at Mons, the mile-marker is some 6 km from the route. Its weight suggests it was moved over only a short distance, leading it to be associated with the route of the Itinerary. Researchers in the Gers have contemplated two routes to reconstruct the course of the ancient roadway, one up and down the hill slopes of the left bank of the River Gers, the other across the floodplain on its right bank. Archaeological discoveries from excavations and aerial surveys in recent decades have come out in favour of the second hypothesis. The roadway has been unearthed on the right bank of the Gers, some 6 km north of the capital of the Auscii, at Endoumingue (Auch). The 8 m-wide road surface, made up of small pebbles, was set upon a 1 m-thick backfill of alluvium. The objects found indicate it came into use in Augustan times. Further north, the road may well have run beside the grave exhumed at Lamothe that probably dated from Late Antiquity. The deceased was in a lead sarcophagus. Among the grave goods, a lead mirror frame decorated with representation of a procession of Dionysus was an exceptional item. A recent study suggests this object had been manufactured in a workshop near the legionary camp at Carnuntum, giving us to imagine the grave’s occupant had spent time in the military on the banks of the Danube. The soldier buried at Lamothe may have stayed shortly before his demise in the probable hostelry of La Goudagne, some 400 m further north. This site, which has been clearly depicted by aerial photography (figs 4 and 5) corresponds to a huge complex whose elaborate architectural layout evokes a road station comparable to a praetorium, a state hostelry reserved for provincial senior officials. On the edge of this large establishment, the aerial survey also detected a straightline trace (fig. 6) identified as the Roman road. Where the road intersects a side road leading to the main building of La Goudagne, a small four-sided building, detected by aerial survey, remains difficult to interpret but it might be a funerary monument of some kind. Further north, four archaeological markers attest to the road running across the Gers plain (figs 7a, 7b, 8, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b). THE COURSE OF THE ROAD FROM LECTOURE TO AGEN. Two routes have been proposed between Lectoure and Agen (fig. 11). The first, on the left bank of the Gers is a ridge route, the Peyrigne, that formed a major north-south highway from protohistoric times. Above all, excavation of it in Nitiobroges territory (fig. 12), at the southern exit from Aginnum, has confirmed its dating to Antiquity. Beside the roads stood twin mausolea, whose ostentation emphasized the early take-up by local elites of new funerary fashions. The course of the Peyrigne can be followed between Agen and Lectoure : it crossed Nitiobroges’ lands along the hills and joined the Gers valley downstream of Lectoure. No clear archaeological data indicates the course along this long stretch of road between the two capitals. The second route, over the plateaux of the right bank of the Gers, is characterized in a document of 1352 as Itineris Magni, which leads to it being associated with Antiquity. It is known above all from a straight stretch of road 10 km long between Lectoure and Astaffort. An old excavation near the village of Sempesserre supposedly unearthed the roadway paved with large slabs. This robust surfacing and the straight course of the road have long argued in favour of it being from Antiquity. However, present-day knowledge of the structures of the roadway show that the presence of paving slabs is rare, with most of the surfacing being simply broken stone. Moreover, examination of the Napoleonic cadastre reveals the presence of land plots ante-dating the road (figs 14 and 15), giving little credit to the hypothesis that the road was of an early date. Accordingly the Roman road of the Antonine Itinerary must have pretty much followed the course of the Peyrigne. Although the appraisal of data from Antiquity, archaeological records and topographic constraints does not put paid to the question of the roadway of the Antonine Itinerary, it does invite us to come off the fence with regard to the best documented hypotheses. For the Auch/Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, section, the most convincing arguments, first among which are the credible location of the Belsino road station and the position of the milestone of Castelnau-Magnoac, argue for a course of the road in the Itinerary via the ridge above the left bank of the River Gers. This pathway could have extended that of what is called the Peyrigne in the areas around Lectoure and Agen. For the Auch-Lectoure section, there is plentiful archaeological data enabling the course of the road to be traced across the Gers floodplain. Last, for the Lectoure-Agen section, the Peyrigne, the use of which in Antiquity is attested, may have been conflated with the Roman road of the Antonine Itinerary, even if this hypothesis can only yet be corroborated by the absence of probatory data about an alternative route. In southern Aquitaine, in imperial times, the road of the Itinerary formed the main backbone between the Pyrenees and the Garonne. It continued straight on northwards as far as Limoges where it joined the “via Agrippa” between Saintes and Lyon.

Wetland area has decreased in most parts of the world and remains threatened by human pressures. However, wetland loss is difficult to accurately detect, delineate and quantify. While wetland distribution is influenced mainly by landform, LiDAR data provide accurate digital elevation models that can be used to delineate wetlands. Our objective was to map wetland loss at a fine-scale using LiDAR data and historical aerial photographs based on a functional typology that identifies potential, existing and efficient wetlands. The study focused on a 132 km2 site with valley bottom wetlands located in western France. Boundaries of potential wetlands were extracted from a LiDAR-derived Digital Terrain Model that was standardized according to channel network elevation. We identified existing wetlands using interpretation of aerial photographs acquired in 1952, 1978 and 2012. We used multiple correspondence analysis to identify different types of wetland loss. Results show that potential wetlands were successfully delineated at 1:5000 (88–90% overall accuracy) and that 14% of existing wetland area was lost. This highlights the importance of identifying “negotiation areas” where wetland restoration is a priority. The results also reveal two main types of wetland loss based on area, geomorphic context, land cover and period of loss.

The present communication serves as an introduction to the categories of natural forest stands by means of interpretation of aerial photos carried out for well over the past dozen years by the author, and at the same time, describes its application to land surveys, as summarized in the following.1) A Study of the nature of aerial photos evidences, the following merits: recordability, objectivity, . reproductivity and expressibility. Taking into consideration these characteristics, we discussed the qualitative and quantitative representation of objects by aerial photos corresponding to the photographing altitude. Furthermore we defined the interpretation of aerial photos as “the coordinated understanding of qualitative and quantitative data of a photographed object by means of aerial photos accomplished for a certain purpose of the object”.2) In the study of forests by means of aerial photos, we stressed the fact that the categories of forest stands are the essentials preceding any survey. The author's method of classification of forest stands is based on the premises of completion by means of land survey; thus accuracy could be expected.3) In the Japanese history of utilization of aerial photos, importance was attached more to the quantity than to the quality. This is particularly true in case of forest studies during the period of high economic growth after 1955.4) The present communication describes in detail the various interpretations of aerial photos: tree crown stratum, group of tree species, class of density, class of tree height, etc. Furthermore we described the changes in the forest aspect and the estimation of wood volume of a forest stand as an example of the study, which made us understand that this is the practical category of forest stands.5) We described the vegetation study, the survey of afforested zones in cities and plans for landscaping as an application to land survey. We could understand that the method of interpretation of aerial photos mainpoint of which is the mutual confirmation of “land aerial photo” by means of eyes and legs of human beings enables us to sufficiently cope with all kinds of land survey.