Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Satellite Data in Cultural Heritage Building Documentation

Abstract. Technological advances in the field of information acquisition have led to the development of various techniques regarding building documentation. Among the proposed methods, acquisition of data without being in direct physical contact with the features under investigation could provide valuable information especially in the case of buildings or areas presenting a high cultural value. Satellite or ground-based remote sensing techniques could contribute to the protection, conservation and restoration of cultural heritage buildings, as well as in the interpretation and monitoring of their surrounding area. The increasing interest in the generation of 3D facade models for documentation of the built environment has made laser scanning a valuable tool for 3D data collection. Through the generation of dense 3D point clouds, digitization of building facades could be achieved, offering data that could be used for further processing. Satellite imagery could also contribute to this direction, extending the monitoring possibilities of the buildings’ surrounding area or even providing information regarding change detection in large-scale cultural landscapes. This paper presents the study of a mansion house built in the middle of the 18th century in northwestern Greece, using terrestrial laser scanning techniques for facade documentation, as well as satellite imagery for monitoring and interpretation purposes. The scanning process included multiple external scans of the main facade of the building which were registered using artificial targets in order to form a single colored 3D model. Further process resulted in a model that offers measurement possibilities valuable to future plans and designs for preservation and restoration. Digital processing of satellite imagery provided the extraction of additional enhanced data regarding the physiognomy of the surrounding area.