INTEGRATION OF TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING AND SMARTPHONE LIDAR: THE CASE STUDY OF LIDZBARK CASTLE

Abstract

In many cases, archaeological research allows to explain the history and evolution of heritage buildings. To support these studies, the availability of reliable 3D representations of such buildings has already been shown to be of remarkable importance. Thanks to the development of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and close-range photogrammetric techniques, the generation of such 3D representations by means of remote sensing techniques has become quite common nowadays. While TLS can still be considered as the state-of-the-art method for generating accurate building geometric models, acquisition methods based on the use of mobile devices is becoming a quite attractive solution in order to speed up the survey while also enabling an easier data acquisition on certain narrow places. Despite a plethora of mobile mapping tools is currently available on the market, smartphones are clearly the most widely used smart mobile device in the world, being an ideal solution in terms of usability, portability, and spread. Motivated by this observation and by the recent availability of smartphones provided with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors, this paper aims at investigating the effectiveness of the integration of traditional TLS with smartphone LiDAR on the survey of the castle in Lidzbark Warminski, which dates back to the mid-fourteenth century. TLS, with the scanner set on a standard tripod, was used to scan easily accessible places. TLS mounted on a dedicated tripod, patented by the co-authors of the project was used for less easy-to-reach places. Finally, smartphone LiDAR enabled 3D data acquisition on very hard-to-reach locations, e.g. excavation areas. The model obtained by integrating the data acquired by all the considered methods allowed to properly describe all the area of interest of the castle, being usable for the technical documentation of such historic building. The obtained model significantly advanced the state of knowledge about the castle in Lidzbark Warminski. As a result of the work, many traces of the history of the complex were discovered, proving its gradual evolution.