Cultural landscapes are those that are shaped through the combined forces of cultural and natural activity, typically over a long period that may reach back to historic and prehistoric times. Amongst these, the documenting, modelling and visualisation of cave landscapes have always been particularly important for scientific communities such as speleology. In the current state of the art, terrestrial laser scanning provides a level of documentation of objects whose accuracy cannot be achieved by conventional methods. In addition to the highly accurate metric and geometric information, visual information brings incredible richness to the presentation of data. Virtual reality (VR) allows individuals to immerse themselves within virtual environments to explore monuments and other cultural heritage sites up close. More and more, VR systems are available at lower prices and are not only limited to VR labs. In this paper, we present research on the generation of a virtual 3D model of the İnceğiz caves, located at the Çatalca district of Istanbul, Turkey, and its integration within the Unity 3D game engine. This project, carried out as a collaboration between BİMTAŞ, a company of the Greater Municipality of Istanbul, Turkey and the Photogrammetry & Laser Scanning Lab of the HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany, aimed at developing an immersive and interactive VR visualisation of the cave for the HTC Vive Pro VR system. The entire workflow, from data acquisition to VR visualisation, is described here in detail with particular emphasis given to the 3D modelling of the cave and its integration within a VR environment.

ABSTRACT:Recent advances in contemporary Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are going to have a significant impact on veryday life. Through VR it is possible to virtually explore a computer-generated environment as a different reality, and to immerse oneself into the past or in a virtual museum without leaving the current real-life situation. For such the ultimate VR experience, the user should only see the virtual world. Currently, the user must wear a VR headset which fits around the head and over the eyes to visually separate themselves from the physical world. Via the headset images are fed to the eyes through two small lenses. Cultural heritage monuments are ideally suited both for thorough multi-dimensional geometric documentation and for realistic interactive visualisation in immersive VR applications. Additionally, the game industry offers tools for interactive visualisation of objects to motivate users to virtually visit objects and places. In this paper the generation of a virtual 3D model of the Selimiye mosque in the city of Edirne, Turkey and its processing for data integration into the game engine Unity is presented. The project has been carried out as a co-operation between BİMTAŞ, a company of the Greater Municipality of Istanbul, Turkey and the Photogrammetry & Laser Scanning Lab of the HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany to demonstrate an immersive and interactive visualisation using the new VR system HTC Vive. The workflow from data acquisition to VR visualisation, including the necessary programming for navigation, is described. Furthermore, the possible use (including simultaneous multiple users environments) of such a VR visualisation for a CH monument is discussed in this contribution.

Kültür varl›klar›n›n korunmas›na iliflkin ulusal ve uluslararas› yaklafl›mlar, "korunmas› gereken kültür varl›klar›n›" yap›, yap› toplulu¤u, kültürel doku, kültürel peyzaj alanlar› ve somut olmayan de¤erler fleklinde tan›mlarken, varl›¤›n bütün de¤erleriyle birlikte korunmas›n›n sürekli k›l›nmas›n›n da ancak koruma ve yaflatma iliflkilerinin, varl›k üzerinde söz sahibi olan bütün öznelerle eflgüdümlü olarak yürütülmesiyle mümkün oldu¤unu belirlemifltir. Kültür varl›klar›n›n uzun vadeli korunmas› ihtiyac› koruma amaçl› "yönetim plan›" kavram›n› ortaya ç›karm›flt›r. Farkl› ifllevlerin bir arada bulundu¤u yap› topluluklar› olan külliyelerin bütüncül ve sürekli korunmalar›n›n bugüne kadar mümkün olmad›¤› görülür. Bu nedenle külliyelerin de alan yönetimi anlay›fl›yla bir yönetim plan› kapsam›nda korunmalar› önemlidir. Süleymaniye Külliyesi, farkl› ifllevlere sahip pek çok birimden oluflan "külliye" ad›n› verdi¤imiz yap› topluluklar›n›n en özgün ve kapsaml› temsilcilerinden biridir. Süleymaniye Külliyesi özelinde, külliyeler ile di¤er kültür varl›klar› için de uygulanabilecek bir yönetim plan› ile yönetim modeli yaklafl›m› gelifltirilmifltir.

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> “A picture is worth a thousand words”: a famous quote about knowledge dissemination but also literally true. The documentation of cultural heritage (CH) monuments is carried out by measurements and photos and stored in 3d models &amp;ndash; not by textual information alone. So what could be a more straightforward way to inform the public about CH than visual information? This approach can be extended not only by providing static images or videos from predefined angles but by giving the user the opportunity to interactively explore the virtual representation and interact with the scene. Recent advances in contemporary Virtual Reality (VR) have made it available to more people as prices have dropped. New devices have entered the market so that VR is not limited to VR labs, but is available even at home. With modern head-mounted displays the user can immerse himself in the virtual CH monument to explore and interact with it. Game engines offer tools for rapid development of interactions and help to produce visually appealing worlds.</p><p>In this paper is presented the generation of a virtual 3D model of Rumeli Hisarı, an Ottoman fortress at the Bosporus in Istanbul, Turkey (Fig. 1) and its processing for data integration into the game engine Unity. The project has been carried out as a co-operation between BİMTAŞ, a company of the Greater Municipality of Istanbul, Turkey and the Photogrammetry &amp; Laser Scanning Lab of the HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany with the aim of a VR application for an immersive and interactive visualisation of the fortress using the VR system HTC Vive. The workflow from data acquisition to VR visualisation, including the necessary programming for navigation, is described. Furthermore, the possible use (including simultaneous multiple users environments) of such a VR visualisation for a CH monument is discussed.</p>

Documentation in maintaining cultural properties is a highly important stage of work for determination of the unique properties. The researches having been carried out over years to increase the accuracy of documentation enabled it to reach such a point that the properties can be scanned by 3D laser scanners today. In order for the lost parts of the civil architecture examples required to be preserved in the context of cultural texture to be found and reconstructed, precise measurement have gained importance in documentation of the current status. Over years, major losses have arisen in the cultural texture situated around Erzurum Castle where the unique architectural examples are placed together. In this study, the importance of the 3D documentation in preserving the cultural properties is discussed in the context of Zırnıklı Vehbi Bey Mansion situated near to the Castle. The CAD drawings of this structure which has significantly lost its spatial integrity has been generated from the 3D laser point clouds, then the restitution and the restoration projects of the monument have been prepared accordingly.