Implementation of ultra-light UAV systems for cultural heritage documentation

Tolga Bakirman; Bulent Bayram; Burak Akpinar; M. Fahri Karabulut; Onur Can Bayrak; Alper Yigitoglu; Dursun Zafer Seker

doi:10.1016/j.culher.2020.01.006

Implementation of ultra-light UAV systems for cultural heritage documentation

Tolga Bakirman^*
, Bulent Bayram
, Burak Akpinar
, M. Fahri Karabulut
, Onur Can Bayrak
, Alper Yigitoglu
, Dursun Zafer Seker

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Geomatics Engineering

Istanbul Technical University
Yildiz Technical University
Motif Harita

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

86 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

New technologies, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and terrestrial laser scanning systems, provide opportunities for the digital documentation of cultural heritage. Although ultra-light drones (ULDs) are usually used for recreational activities, in this study, we examined their ability for use in digital documentation. We investigated the efficiency of an ULD for documentation of a selected historical building. In this study, the structure from motion (SfM) method was used to create three-dimensional point cloud data of a historical building using ULD and a low-cost UAV. The resulting point clouds were compared with terrestrial laser scanner data. The maximum standard deviations were calculated as 0.62 cm and 1.87 cm for low-cost UAV and ULD, respectively. The results show that ULDs can be used under suitable circumstances as a low-cost alternative for cultural heritage documentation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	174-184
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Cultural Heritage
Volume	44
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2020.01.006
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS

Funding

This study has been supported by TUBITAK , Turkey (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) with project entitled "Automatic 3D Shoreline Extraction and Analysis from UAV and UAV-LiDAR Data for Sustainable Monitoring: Case Study of Terkos (Istanbul)" and grant ID 115Y718 .

Funders	Funder number
TUBITAK	115Y718

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Keywords

Cultural heritage
Documentation
Low-cost UAV
Photogrammetry
Point cloud
SfM
Ultra-light drone

Access to Document

10.1016/j.culher.2020.01.006

Cite this

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title = "Implementation of ultra-light UAV systems for cultural heritage documentation",

abstract = "New technologies, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and terrestrial laser scanning systems, provide opportunities for the digital documentation of cultural heritage. Although ultra-light drones (ULDs) are usually used for recreational activities, in this study, we examined their ability for use in digital documentation. We investigated the efficiency of an ULD for documentation of a selected historical building. In this study, the structure from motion (SfM) method was used to create three-dimensional point cloud data of a historical building using ULD and a low-cost UAV. The resulting point clouds were compared with terrestrial laser scanner data. The maximum standard deviations were calculated as 0.62 cm and 1.87 cm for low-cost UAV and ULD, respectively. The results show that ULDs can be used under suitable circumstances as a low-cost alternative for cultural heritage documentation.",

keywords = "Cultural heritage, Documentation, Low-cost UAV, Photogrammetry, Point cloud, SfM, Ultra-light drone",

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year = "2020",

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doi = "10.1016/j.culher.2020.01.006",

language = "English",

volume = "44",

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AU - Bakirman, Tolga

AU - Bayram, Bulent

AU - Akpinar, Burak

AU - Karabulut, M. Fahri

AU - Bayrak, Onur Can

AU - Yigitoglu, Alper

AU - Seker, Dursun Zafer

PY - 2020/7/1

Y1 - 2020/7/1

N2 - New technologies, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and terrestrial laser scanning systems, provide opportunities for the digital documentation of cultural heritage. Although ultra-light drones (ULDs) are usually used for recreational activities, in this study, we examined their ability for use in digital documentation. We investigated the efficiency of an ULD for documentation of a selected historical building. In this study, the structure from motion (SfM) method was used to create three-dimensional point cloud data of a historical building using ULD and a low-cost UAV. The resulting point clouds were compared with terrestrial laser scanner data. The maximum standard deviations were calculated as 0.62 cm and 1.87 cm for low-cost UAV and ULD, respectively. The results show that ULDs can be used under suitable circumstances as a low-cost alternative for cultural heritage documentation.

AB - New technologies, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and terrestrial laser scanning systems, provide opportunities for the digital documentation of cultural heritage. Although ultra-light drones (ULDs) are usually used for recreational activities, in this study, we examined their ability for use in digital documentation. We investigated the efficiency of an ULD for documentation of a selected historical building. In this study, the structure from motion (SfM) method was used to create three-dimensional point cloud data of a historical building using ULD and a low-cost UAV. The resulting point clouds were compared with terrestrial laser scanner data. The maximum standard deviations were calculated as 0.62 cm and 1.87 cm for low-cost UAV and ULD, respectively. The results show that ULDs can be used under suitable circumstances as a low-cost alternative for cultural heritage documentation.

KW - Cultural heritage

KW - Documentation

KW - Low-cost UAV

KW - Photogrammetry

KW - Point cloud

KW - SfM

KW - Ultra-light drone

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85079771169

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DO - 10.1016/j.culher.2020.01.006

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85079771169

SN - 1296-2074

VL - 44

SP - 174

EP - 184

JO - Journal of Cultural Heritage

JF - Journal of Cultural Heritage

ER -

Implementation of ultra-light UAV systems for cultural heritage documentation

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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