Articles by Valeria Cera

The Pompeii Archaeological Park is an exceptional example of archaeology where architectural features have been almost totally preserved, in the context of an archaeological excavation. Because of this unique site, a digital management tool constructed upon the planned conservation needs, requires both the features of a BIM (Building Information Modelling) and a GIS (Geographic Information System). This article presents the first steps taken towards the design of such system, where the latest research in the integration of the two technological domains takes into consideration the requirements from the archeologists that will use the system. In particular, semantic mappings between entity classes are explained: the data schemas compared are the open format standards for BIM and GIS, namely IFC and CityGML, against a dedicated taxonomy created specifically for this research on the features of Vesuvian architecture.

The paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary project related to the 3D documentation, dissemination and valorisation of archaeological sites. The project has two goals: to test a novel and economic pipeline for the acquisition of survey data, and to promote the study and appreciation of archaeological areas, among public and scientists, using the HBIM workflow. The 3D survey of archaeological sites is still an expensive and time-consuming task. In this project, a low-cost approach to 3D survey is presented and compared to a standard photogrammetry pipeline based on high-resolution photographs. The pipeline is based on a consumer-level hand-held RGB-D sensor as Microsoft Kinect. The quality of the digitized raw 3D models is evaluated by comparing them to a photogrammetry-based reconstruction and then the acquired data is elaborated in software BIM in order to create a semantically enriched model of the archaeological site. This method has been verified on the archaeological park of Liternum (Campania, Italy), a Roman forum that includes a capitolium, a theatre, a basilica and some others commercial spaces. Using a reflex camera for the photogrammetric survey, it was compared to the Kinect acquisition. In this way, we obtained a 3D model that is imported in a BIM software such as Autodesk Revit. Every element is modelled as a parametric object so the final model is enriched with additional information: geometric dimensions, material, text documents, CAAD reconstruction hypotheses, drawings, photos, etc. These methods allowed us to better understand the site, perform analyses, see interpretative processes, communicate historical information and promote the heritage location.