Recording, Modeling, Visualisation and GIS Applications Development for the Acropolis of Athens

Abstract

This paper presents the project “Development of Geographic Information Systems at the Acropolis of Athens“, financed by the European Union and the Government of Greece. The Acropolis of Athens is one of the major archaeological sites world-wide included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. The project started in June 2007 and will finish at the end of 2008. The paper presents the motivation for the project and its aims, giving a description of the deliverables and the specifications, as well as the project difficulties. Furthermore, we present the techniques used, both photogrammetric and geodetic, for data acquisition and processing. The project is divided into three basic tasks: the geodetic one, involving field measurements for the generation of a polygonometric network and terrestrial laser scanning of the walls and Acropolis rock and also the Erechtheion monument, the photogrammetric one involving image acquisition, orientation, DSM generation and orthorectification, and finally the development of a GIS database and applications. This contribution underlines particularly the potential of combining different technologies (especially digital imaging and laser scanning) for an accurate 3D modeling of cultural heritage sites. Preliminary results are reported