Ground survey: An integrated survey for urban and architectural heritage conservation and management

Abstract

Recording is a key activity in the cultural heritage conservation management. Conservation-related information is usually obtained (certainly in the case of this project) from multidisciplinary research activities. In such teams, geomatics build a framework to connect all members’ contributions both in preliminary studies and in project development and applications. In this project, the documentation approach used the most sophisticated surveying techniques to properly capture the geometries of the “sample area”: the pilot area, as well as the whole Multan Walled City, is made of very articulated buildings, with façades rich in decorations, and the urban pattern created by these buildings is very intricate. Metrical data acquisition of such a wide, complex, and crowded urban area with traditional survey techniques would request a lot of work, involving many people for a long time. The rapid rise in new technologies has revolutionized the practice of recording heritage places. The advantage does not rely only on time saving, but mostly on accuracy and management of digital data. Digital tools and media offer many new opportunities for collecting and disseminating information about heritage sites. From a methodological point of view, an integrated survey has been planned combining topographic and laser scanning technology. In pilot area, two macro-areas were selected and subdivided in six different sites. A reference frame connecting all sites was created by a topographic survey carried out with total station. In the meantime, detailed survey was carried out using a laser scanner in all sites. The fieldwork is only the smallest part in this kind of survey. Subsequent activities were carried out in Florence and Milan during the following months producing a digital model to create 2-D drawings and 3-D models. Graphic outputs were used by other work teams for many different tasks: conservation/restoration, structural analysis, architectural and urban planning, mapping, and so on.