UAV Surveys for Representing and Document the Cultural Heritage

The new survey techniques allow for a more detailed depiction of the characteristics of the cultural heritage of which our country is so rich. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are emerging as a key engineering tool for future environmental survey tasks. UAV aerial imagery offers both timely (on demand) and more detailed (higher resolution) information than comparable satellite imagery. In the present study the opportunities of obtaining more detailed documentation of cultural goods throughout UAV survey have been investigated.The survey was conducted on an ancient Aragonese watchtower of the seventeenth century, located near the Abbey of San Vito in the countryside of Polignano a Mare (in the province of Bari, Southern Italy) (Fig.1). The high resolution of the produced images, approximately 1 cm x pixels, allows to obtain all elements of both structural and qualitative information required for a conservative restoration project of the monument. The peculiarity of the transportation vehicle of the camera has also made it possible to detect the top surface of the roof covering of the building, normally not accessible, with the presence of a chimney and an access hatch, on which to intervene for the proper disposal of rainwater. The research refers to the metric characteristics, accuracy, level of detail, the particular crack patterns, etc., reachable by photogrammetric methods, with the help of dedicated software (Agisoft PhotoScan) such as Computer Vision methodologies.