A Hierarchical 3D Reconstruction Approach for Documenting Complex Heritage Sites

Abstract

Digitally reconstructing a large and complex heritage site, for example a medieval castle, for documentation and virtual reality simulation is a challenging task that requires combining models created by different data sets from several digitisation technologies. Our approach resembles the level of detail (LOD) concept used in visualization of complex models. Our procedure is hierarchical by the data source, whether it is laser scanner, digital images, surveying, or engineering drawings. In the hierarchy, the details, accuracy and reliability increase as we advance from one data level to the next. We will describe our procedure and present its application to three significantly different heritage projects each illustrates a different strategy for data integration.