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Geoinformatics_04-2009
conference he has carried out, in this case, involving the generation of both the external and internal plans of buildings with over 300 rooms. after which, he discussed the democratization of 3d databases that could be shared by a wide group of professionals, each of whom could interpret the same data sets in different ways. finally he discussed the use of photometric techniques based on the reflectances from the different materials that are present in the facades of buildings. the second day of the conference opened with a most intriguing contribution from james jobling-purser, newly graduated with a ph.d. degree from the cambourne school of mines in cornwall in south-west england, which forms part of the university of exeter. with sponsorship from jobling-purser ltd. and support by the 3d laser mapping company (which also builds the streetmapper), he has devised and built a robotic, wireless-controlled remote surveying vehicle (rsv) equipped with a laser scanner for use in underground surveys [fig. 5]. to everyone s delight, the vehicle was demonstrated live running over the floor of the conference hall. while the vehicle is designed for underground mining surveys, it has obvious potential for surveys of underground caverns containing human remains or rock art, as demonstrated by its use in the sterkfontein caves in south africa, which are also listed as a unesco world heritage site. more details can be found on the web site www.rsv.eu.com of the new company, jobling purser rsv llp, that has been set up to develop the vehicle further. the next presentation, given by ibrahim baz who was returning to the city for the first time since he gained his ph.d. in photogrammetry at the university of glasgow in the mid-1980s fig. 3 a perspective view of the entrance to stirling castle with the royal palace behind it produced from terrestrial laser scan data, with a superimposed image rendering being applied to the 3d model. (source: digital design studio, glasgow school of art) national park service and elizabeth lee of the cyark foundation. monte alban is a large archaeological site in the southern mexican state of oaxaca located on the flattened top of a mountain ridge (mesa) at an altitude of 2,000 m, which has also been designated as a unesco world heritage site. it was the capital and holy city of the zatopec cloud people between 500 bc and 750 ad. besides the actual survey of the extensive site (which housed 30,000 people at its peak), the author discussed in detail the dangers that are threatening the buildings on the site, including the decay of the limestone structures; the earthquakes that are a common occurrence in the area; frequent brushwood fires; and landslides. all of which only emphasized the need for a full record and documentation of the site before parts of it are destroyed or damaged. after which, larry weiss delivered his own presentation, which was concerned with the laser scan surveys of the extensive cliff dwellings of the ancestral pueblo people [fig. 4] that are located in the mesa verde national park in southwest colorado yet another unesco world heritage site - again using terrestrial laser scanners. the next speaker was dieter fritsch, the well known professor of photogrammetry (and former rector) at the university of stuttgart, who presented an account of the outstanding work that has been undertaken at his institute. first he outlined the work that has resulted in a 3d model of the city of stuttgart through a combination of airborne and terrestrial imaging and laser scanning. after which, he outlined the projects that have been undertaken to create 3d models of the ancient nabataean city of petra and the roman city of jerash in jordan, both of which are unesco world heritage sites. next came a comparison of mobile and static terrestrial laser scan surveys carried out over a test latest news? visit www.geoinformatics.com area in stuttgart s city centre. the results from the streetmapper mobile mapping system combining multiple laser scanners and cameras showed an astonishing gain in speed with little diminution in the accuracy of the final results. prof. fritsch also discussed the progress that is being made with the automated extraction of features from the recorded facades a procedure that can work well with regular features. finally he ended his excellent and informative presentation with a discussion of the architecture of a web gis that is suitable for use with the digital documentation of large urban areas. the first day of the conference was completed with a presentation given by professor marcello balzani, the head of the diaprem (development of integrated automatic procedures for restoration of monuments) laboratory in the department of architecture at the university of ferrara in italy. first he described two of the many architectural, archaeological and urban surveys based on terrestrial laser scanning that fig. 4 the cliff dwellings of the ancestral pueblo people in the mesa verde national park, colorado, u.s.a. (source: wikipedia) june 2009 25
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