Documentation and analysis of 3D mappings for monument diagnosys

Abstract

The restoration and preservation of built cultural heritage requires a good knowledge of its history and its current state of conservation. Heritage con-servation professionals are used to perform mappings to record and disseminate data relative to the monument. Data to be collected are heterogeneous, starting from the oldest sources (such as archives or iconographic manuscript) up to field observations. This study is applied to the documentation and analysis of the state of conservation of the East tower in the castle of Chambord. The produced map-pings concern the dating of stonework, the nature and origin of each stone, and the distribution of degradation patterns on the outer walls. To enable the graphical drawing and viewing of the different mappings, it is necessary to produce a suitable digital medium. In this study, the medium is a textured 3D model as a mean to characterize accurately and actually all surfaces, including those that cannot be viewed on a 2D projection. This 3D model is associated to the NUBES database to store and analyse all collected data. NUBES is a web-based open source platform for the representation, documentation and analysis of architectural elements. This information system has been specifically developed to include an interface dedicated to the drawing vector mappings and to their organization into hierarchical layers. Results of this study can be used to improve the monument diagnosis and our knowledge of weathering processes.