Reconstruction Of Cultural Heritage Research Articles

An Ethnic House Form at the Western Margins of Southeast Asia: The Elusive South Asian Stilt Architecture of the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Descriptive and somewhat elusive, sketchy historical notes exist for possible cultural links between ethnic people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, South Asia, and ethnic people across the national borders in Southeast Asia. Yet, there is a curious lack of research that uses vernacular architecture or ethnic architectural building typology as a key tool to establish, or reiterate, the common proposition that CHT is the western fringe of a Southeast Asian cultural sphere. Historically, language has been a standard tool used by both colonial British rulers and a few anthropologists to consider the topic of reconstruction of cultural heritage in this geographically complex region, while architecture has played an incidental part. In this article, we examine the stilt or platform typology of vernacular architecture of the CHT as a tool to reflect on the inter-ethnic cultural position of the CHT. The chosen analytical framework hinges on the notion that architecture is constructive, in parallel to language, in establishing a heritage position. The concluding findings of the article establish CHT as a historic region with shared Southeast Asian building-cultural features, notwithstanding the possibility of correspondence to early Austronesian building heritage.

Proposal for the improvement and modification in the scale of evidence for virtual reconstruction of the cultural heritage: A first approach in the mosque-cathedral and the fluvial landscape of Cordoba

Abstract This article intends to improve and modify the scale of evidence in the virtual reconstructions created by Tayfun Oner for the Byzantium 1200 project team. In the article the scale has been analysed, reducing its number of levels and modifying its chromatic gradation to improve its perception. For this purpose, the original scale and the modified scale have been compared in three different three-dimensional models, the minaret of ‘Abd al-Rahman III’, Cordoba, Spain. A sector of the mosque of ‘Abd al-Rahman I’, Cordoba, Spain, and the Roman Port of Colonia Patricia, Cordoba, Spain. The modified scale complies with the London Charter and the Seville Principles for the Virtual Reconstruction of Cultural Heritage and it is aimed at been established as a common scale within the scientific community.

Reconstrucción virtual y visualización 3d del yacimiento arqueológico Castellet de Bernabé (Lliria, España)

3D virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage is a useful tool to reach many goals: the accurate documentation of our tangible cultural legacy, the determination of mechanical alteration on the assets, or the mere shape acquisition prior to restoration and/or reconstruction works, etc. Among these goals, when planning and managing tourism enhancement of heritage sites, it demands setting up specific instruments and tools to guarantee both, the site conservation and the visitors’ satisfaction. Archaeological sites are physical witnesses of the past and an open window to research works and scientific discoveries, but usually, the major structures do no exist nowadays, and the general public takes long time and many efforts to elaborate a mental reconstruction of the volumetry and appearance from these remains. This mental reconstruction is essential to build up a storyline that communicates efficiently the archaeological and historic knowledge and awares the public about its conservation. To develop this process of awareness about conservation, heritage interpretation starts with the mental inmersion of the visitors in the archaeological site, what 3D reconstruction definitely helps to achieve. Different technologies exist nowadays for the3D reconstruction of assets, but when dealing with archaeological sites, the data acquisition requires alternative approaches to be used, as most part of the assets do not exist nowadays. In this work, we will deal with the virtual reconstruction and visualisation of the archaeological site Castellet de Bernabé by following a mixed approach (surveying techniques and archaeological research). We further give a methodology to process and merge the real and virtual data in order to create augmented views of the site.

Four-dimensional reconstruction of cultural heritage sites based on photogrammetry and clustering

A system designed and developed for the three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of cultural heritage (CH) assets is presented. Two basic approaches are presented. The first one, resulting in an “approximate” 3-D model, uses images retrieved in online multimedia collections; it employs a clustering-based technique to perform content-based filtering and eliminate outliers that significantly reduce the performance of 3-D reconstruction frameworks. The second one is based on input image data acquired through terrestrial laser scanning, as well as close range and airborne photogrammetry; it follows a sophisticated multistep strategy, which leads to a “precise” 3-D model. Furthermore, the concept of change history maps is proposed to address the computational limitations involved in four-dimensional (4-D) modeling, i.e., capturing 3-D models of a CH landmark or site at different time instances. The system also comprises a presentation viewer, which manages the display of the multifaceted CH content collected and created. The described methods have been successfully applied and evaluated in challenging real-world scenarios, including the 4-D reconstruction of the historic Market Square of the German city of Calw in the context of the 4-D-CH-World EU project.

BIM Open Source Software (OSS) for the documentation of cultural heritage

<p class="VARAbstract">The Building Information Modelling (BIM) software enables the users to communicate and design, understand appearance, performance and cost in the spatial and urban design process. Another important use of the BIM technology is the documentation and 3D reconstruction of cultural heritage monuments. The appropriate BIM software equips the users with tools to easily capture and analyse concepts and maintain the coordination of design data through documentation and 3D modelling. Many developments come up in the BIM field and software industry for design, construction-reconstruction, restoration and management of the cultural heritage 3D models, using BIM tools; mainly commercial as well as free or open source. Nevertheless, recently the growing popularity of open source has altered the landscape in software industry, as they attract many users.</p><p class="VARAbstract">This paper presents a review of some recent research on the topic. We review the recent developments focusing on the OSS that can be used at various stages of BIM process in the digital documentation of cultural heritage. The results show that there is more preference in the commercial software due to the fact that the OSS is not yet complete and covers all stages of the BIM process. However, lately we have the Edificius in architectural BIM design and “BIM Vision” as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) model viewer that try to attract as many users as possible. These tools are free and they could well be used for the digital reconstruction of cultural heritage.</p>

Testing GoPro for 3D model reconstruction in narrow spaces

<p class="normal">The main objective of this paper is to analyse the potential as well as the limitations of an action camera (GoPro Hero 3 Black) in photogrammetric application for architectural cultural heritage reconstruction. The investigations were carried out in a site of notable historical interest, “Villa Giulia Felice” in Pompeii, Italy. In order to estimate the work pipeline, the time-consuming processing and the output product accuracy using fisheye camera images, three commercial image processing software packages were tested: Agisoft PhotoScan, Pix4Dmapper and 3DF Zephyr Aerial. Several comparisons among the final 3D models produced have been developed and the results achieved. Despite the problems found related to lens distortion and the small distance from the camera to the object (average distance ~80 cm), the test has provided good results in terms of accuracy (average error 2 - 3.5 cm) and reliability.</p>

The Virtualisation Process of the Joglo Cultural Heritage House Using Computer Aided Design

This paper presents a study of the process of virtualization or a cultural heritage modeling of Joglo house, an old Javanese house, through observation method. The method consists of three aspects as the following: (1) to observations and measurements, (2) to create a virtual image of the cultural heritage and (3) to integrate the all component of the cultural heritage house, so that the final image is expected to be the replicate of the original house. Additionally, in the process of making traditional Joglo house model, there is another aspect that has been conducted, it was to create harmony between the display of a merger of two and three-dimensional photorealistic models which was made with the help of computer-based applications, namely Computer Aided Design (CAD). As such, by implementing these methods, the reconstruction of cultural heritage of the Joglo house, the Kartasura, can be realized.

3D VISUALIZATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE USING TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNER (A Case Study : Monument of Heroes, Surabaya, East Java)

Research subjects reported was the visualization of three-dimensional (3D) surface models in three-dimensional mapping survey using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). Tugu Pahlawan (Heroes Monument), located in Surabaya city center near the office of the Governor of East Java was chosen as the research object.Laser technology instruments used for comparison is GeoMax Zoom 300 (Terrestrial Laser Scanner) and Gowin TKS-202 (Electronic Total Station) as well as for geodetic GPS coordinates and altitude reference measurement Heroes Monument are georeferenced. Coordinate measurement results Electronic Total Station and Terrestrial Laser Scanner are then converted into global coordinates (UTM) using georeferencing process from Geodetic GPS measurement results. Coordinates, diameter and height of Tugu Pahlawan calculated for each model. Statistical test is used as data validation terrestrial laser scanner with electronic total station.With 90% confidence interval on statistical tests, 80% of them into confidence intervals. Height of Tugu Pahlawan according to archived data is 41.448 m, in contrast with the results of measurements from Total Station is 41.144 m, while the results of TLS is 41.447 m. Statistical test results concluded that the height of heights TLS is outside the confidence interval. Expected in the future, such as the visualization of 3D surface models can be used for documentation, preservation and reconstruction of cultural heritage.

Etruscans in 3D - Surveying and 3D modeling for a better access and understanding of heritage -

<p>Archaeological 3D digital documentation of monuments and historical sites should be considered a precious source of information and it can be very useful for preservation, conservation, restoration and reconstruction of Cultural Heritage. This paper reports a work dealing with 3D surveying and modeling of different Etruscan heritage sites, featuring necropolis with underground frescoed tombs dating back to VII-IV century B.C., located in the area corresponding roughly to the actual central Italy. The project “Etruscans in 3D” was born with the aim of digital documentation, study, analyses and preservation of Etruscan heritage monuments and sites, but also to create digital contents for virtual visits, museum exhibitions, virtual and augmented reality, better access and communication of the<br />heritage information.</p>

Reconstruction of the palace and park complex of the estate Hodkevich under hotel-restaurant complex

In the article the problem of reconstruction of cultural heritage. Analysis reconstruction Laura locks in hotel and restaurant. Methods and means Reconstruction estates Chodkiewicz for its preservation as cultural heritage and attract tourists. Adding it to the tourist map of Ukraine.

Future Research Challenges for a Computer-Based Interpretative 3D Reconstruction of Cultural Heritage - A German Community's View

Abstract. The workgroup for Digital Reconstruction of the Digital Humanities in the German-speaking area association (Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum e.V.) was founded in 2014 as cross-disciplinary scientific society dealing with all aspects of digital reconstruction of cultural heritage and currently involves more than 40 German researchers. Moreover, the workgroup is dedicated to synchronise and foster methodological research for these topics. As one preliminary result a memorandum was created to name urgent research challenges and prospects in a condensed way and assemble a research agenda which could propose demands for further research and development activities within the next years. The version presented within this paper was originally created as a contribution to the so-called agenda development process initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2014 and has been amended during a joint meeting of the digital reconstruction workgroup in November 2014.

TESTING THE LOW-COST RPAS POTENTIAL IN 3D CULTURAL HERITAGE RECONSTRUCTION

Abstract. In order to analyze the potential as well as the limitations of low-cost RPAS photogrammetric systems for architectural cultural heritage reconstruction, some tests were performed by a small RPAS equipped with an ultralight camera. The tests were carried out in a site of remarkable historical interest. A great amount of images were taken with camera’s optical axis in vertical and oblique position. Images were processed by the commercial software PhotoScan of Agisoft and numerous models were realized, each of them was compared with an accurate TLS model used as a reference. The test, despite some problems found, has provided good results in terms of accuracy (average error <2cm) and reliability.

Automated high resolution 3D reconstruction of cultural heritage using multi-scale sensor systems and semi-global matching

Abstract. 3D surface models with high resolution and high accuracy are of great value in many applications, especially if these models are true to scale. As a promising alternative to active scanners (light section, structured light, laser scanners, etc.) new photogrammetric approaches are coming up. They use modern structure from motion (SfM) techniques, using the camera as main sensor. Unfortunately, the accuracy and resolution achievable with the available tools is very limited. When reconstructing large objects with high resolution an unacceptably high laborious effort is another problem. This paper shows an approach to overcome these limitations. It combines the strengths of modern surface reconstruction techniques from the remote sensing sector with novel SfM technologies, resulting in accurate 3D models of indoor and outdoor scenes. Starting with the image acquisition all particular steps to a final 3D model are explained. Finally the results of the evaluation of the approach at different indoor scenes are presented.

Reconstructing Heritage in the Aftermath of Civil War: Re-Visioning the Nation and the Implications of International Involvement

Culture is an indispensable asset in post-conflict recovery processes; however, it can also be used as a means of continuing violence on a symbolic and ideological level, particularly in the case of civil wars. In a reconstruction paradigm this violence often takes the form of struggles over history, memory, heritage, and identity. Despite the context-specific differences of conflicts, their aftermaths do retain some common elements—such as an emphasis on re-envisioning history and re-defining national identity. This article examines three issues: the intentionality guiding choices about what to rebuild, the symbolic landscape that emerges as a result, and the ethical issues that arise from third party intervention in the reconstruction of cultural heritage. The rhetoric that surrounds reconstruction projects differs widely from the reality on the ground and I will argue that it is important to understand this in order to assess the impact that reconstruction can have on attempts at reconciliation, identity and state-building. This article also examines some of the ethical issues involved in the post-conflict reconstruction of cultural heritage including the role of international values associated to ‘heritage of mankind’ and their possible conflict with local valuations of cultural heritage. This area of study is becoming increasingly urgent. International organizations have escalated their involvement in post-conflict reconstruction work and in these interventions they impress their particular code of values on fragile societies often without a full appreciation of the possible long-term consequences of their actions.

DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH OF SAN ILDEFONSO AT ZAMORA (SPAIN) USING ORTHOWARE

Abstract. This paper describes the surveying process performed on the Church of San Ildefonso in Zamora (Spain) using Orthoware©, an innovative photogrammetric software tool specially designed for the digital reconstruction of cultural heritage. This software is the result of intense R&D at Metria Digital after several years producing heritage true orthoimages, plans and full color 3D models in a commercial environment. Orthoware allows true measurements and produces high quality true orthoimages and full color 3D models starting out from conventional digital photographs. This is a progressive tool designed for non-specialist users, providing intuitive and quick methods to visually diagnose the quality of the results. The Church of San Ildefonso in Zamora was built over a previously existing temple whose Romanesque construction dates back to the 11th century, although it is nowadays hidden among extensions and remodelings carried out up until 18th century. With a length of more than 30 meters, the original floor plan of the Church consists on three naves and three apses, although only one nave is visible now, covered by groin vault, and one semicircular apse partially hidden by the current building. The south front maintains the greater part of its Romanesque origins, in spite of being hidden and higher than the present ground level. At the feet of the temple a tower rises, whose first stage is Romanesque but which has been altered by numerous Baroque elements. The objective of the photogrammetric reconstruction was the integral survey of the monument, including its four façades, interior faces and roofs for the production of some true-orthoimages, cross-sections, longitudinal-sections and ground plans at scale 1/50 with an accuracy of 10 mm for the drawings and a pixel size below 10 mm for the synthetic imagery. The usual photogrammetric workflow for producing true-orthoimages and digital 3D models in cultural heritage depends to a great extent on finding and matching homologous features amongst various images. This is a time-consuming, repetitive and blind recognition process requiring some spatial intuition and experience from the user. Orthoware makes use of automatic image analysis and computer vision techniques to improve this processing. Its innovative graphic user interface allows full interactivity and corrections or refinements to be performed at any time providing intuitive diagnostics from partial results. This flow involves very intensive calculations achieved through a software development specific for GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), using OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) and DirectX. Therefore, a combination of manual and automatic techniques makes up the ideal tool for a production environment. The workflow presented herein allow users to reduce orthoimage production time from months to just a few weeks.

Learning how to match fresco fragments

One of the main problems faced during reconstruction of fractured archaeological artifacts is sorting through a large number of candidate matches between fragments to find the relatively few that are correct. Previous computer methods for this task provided scoring functions based on a variety of properties of potential matches, including color and geometric compatibility across fracture surfaces. However, they usually consider only one or at most a few properties at once, and therefore provide match predictions with very low precision. In this article, we investigate a machine learning approach that computes the probability that a match is correct based on the combination of many features. We explore this machine learning approach for ranking matches in three different sets of fresco fragments, finding that classifiers based on many match properties can be significantly more effective at ranking proposed matches than scores based on any single property alone. Our results suggest that it is possible to train a classifier on match properties in one dataset and then use it to rank predicted matches in another dataset effectively. We believe that this approach could be helpful in a variety of cultural heritage reconstruction systems.

Living the past: 3D models, virtual reality and game engines as tools for supporting archaeology and the reconstruction of cultural heritage – the case-study of the Roman villa of Casal de Freiria

“Learn about the past to better understand the present and predict the future”. Although used abundantly to justify our interest in ancient societies, this statement lacks practical meaning due to the high degree of uncertainty which cloaks archaeological studies and theories, and the fact that there is no real way to prove or validate them. That is why it is so important to approach this study from a multidisciplinary point of view, providing several inputs which complement each other and so maximize the amount of factual information drawn from the analysis. Even then, the study will never be truly complete because there will always be a missing document, a small trace of an object ( Verhagen, 2008), that still needs to be analysed. This paper aims to be a useful contribution to historical research, specifically to the study of architectural history. Its purpose is to create a series of methods and tools for testing and analysing theories and hypotheses for historical scenarios ( Vasáros, 2008) through the use of 3D modelling tools and Virtual Reality (VR) engines. The project was developed in two stages: The first was the creation of several three-dimensional (3D) models, each representing a different theory or hypothesis. The models were based on accurate Computer Assisted Design (CAD) ( Autodesk ® AutoCAD ) models for the reconstruction of the buildings, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) ( ESRI ® ) for the recreation of the terrain, thereby creating a realistic representation of what exists now, and a close approximation to what may have once existed. In the second stage, a simplified version of the models was imported into a Virtual Reality (VR) game engine ( Bethesda Softworks ® ) to create the ambience of the villa at the time, allowing full exploration of the space. It also includes fauna and flora, as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven avatars, as can be seen in the Video 1 provided in the electronic version of this manuscript.

Illuminating the past: state of the art

Virtual reconstruction and representation of historical environments and objects have been of research interest for nearly two decades. Physically based and historically accurate illumination allows archaeologists and historians to authentically visualise a past environment to deduce new knowledge. This report reviews the current state of illuminating cultural heritage sites and objects using computer graphics for scientific, preservation and research purposes. We present the most noteworthy and up-to-date examples of reconstructions employing appropriate illumination models in object and image space, and in the visual perception domain. Finally, we also discuss the difficulties in rendering, documentation, validation and identify probable research challenges for the future. The report is aimed for researchers new to cultural heritage reconstruction who wish to learn about methods to illuminate the past.

Virtual Reunification, Virtual Preservation and Enhanced Conservation

The digitization of dispersed collections offers the opportunity to do much more than simply image collections. The paper centres on major initiatives involving the British Library which are virtually reunifying significant collections dispersed around the world. Such virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage creates a different digital entity. The Codex Sinaiticus project has worked towards the July 2009 Web launch of the virtual reunification of all the leaves of one of the earliest extant Bibles. The approximately 400 leaves are physically located in St Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, Leipzig University Library, the National Library of Russia, St Petersburg, and the British Library, London. The International Dunhuang Project is a very mature project that has been digitizing material from the Dunhuang caves and the Eastern Silk Road dispersed in London, Beijing, Dunhuang, St Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm and Kyoto. These complex programmes have broad application to other cultural–historical projects, and some of the wider political, diplomatic and stewardship themes are developed.

XML and the future of humanities computing

The existence of XML induces to hope that some limits of humanities computing may soon be trespassed. Here we mention some arguments concerning data management and 3D visualization, describing a few examples and test cases where the use of XML dramatically improved the quality of the application. These include text encoding, archaeological data management and Virtual Reality reconstruction of Cultural Heritage.