A Multi-Resolution Photogrammetric Framework for Digital Geometric Recording of Large Archeological Sites: Ajloun Castle-Jordan

Abstract

The generation of reality-based 3D models of archeological sites is the future of representing existing ancient structures. Such approach requires substantial economic and logistical costs which limit this application. In this context, this paper presents the use of photogrammetric workflow, based on Structure from Motion techniques (SfM) to derive 3D metric information from Structure-and-Motion images. The interdisciplinary 3D modeling framework consists of fusion of multi resolution images from both overlapped low-altitude aerial and multi-view terrestrial imagery. The acquisition of aerial photographs survey was based on archived oblique aerial stereo pair photos acquired from the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (APAAME) project, while terrestrial of close range photos covering the castle walls has been acquired using portable camera. Camera calibration and orientation were carried out by VisualSFM, CMPMVS (Multi-View Reconstruction) and SURE (Photogrammetric Surface Reconstruction from Imagery) software. The resulted cloud points were processed using cloud Compare, MeshLab, Agisoft, and Skethup Softwares. A complete 3D digital geometric recording of the site was accomplished based on dense 3D point clouds with realistic metric accuracy and photorealistic performance to meet all the surveying and archaeological needs. The final Ajloun castle’s digital model geometry was added as a 3D building layer on Google Earth.