Drones in Archaeology: Integrated Data Capture, Processing, and Dissemination in the al-Ula Valley, Saudi Arabia

Smith, Neil; Passone, Luca; Al-Said, S Mansour; al-Farhan, Mohamed; Levy, Thomas E.

doi:10.5615/neareastarch.77.3.0176

Cited by 45 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…A review of the major journals shows dozens of articles promoting the results of UAV-based surveys (e.g. Fernández-Hernandez, González-Aguilera & Rodríguez-Gonzálvez 2014; Khan, Aragão & Iriarte 2017;Smith et al 2014), and many other projects are clearly using UAVs to carry out basic tasks such as capturing aerial views of trenches or creating local topographic models, as discussed below under 'Structure from Motion'. Given the energy currently going into UAV surveys in archaeology we must ask: what are the impacts and benefits of these often centimetre scale models and images?…”

Section: Uavsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Trends and Long-standing Problems in Archaeological Remote Sensing

Opitz

Herrmann

2018

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology

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The variety and sophistication of data sources, sensors, and platforms employed in archaeological remote sensing have increased significantly over the past decade. Projects incorporating data from UAV surveys, regional and research-driven lidar surveys, the uptake of hyperspectral imaging, the launch of high-temporal revisit satellites, the advent of multi-sensor rigs for geophysical survey, and increased use of structure from motion mean that more archaeologists are engaging with remote sensing than ever. These technological advances continue to drive research in the specialist community and provide reasons for optimism about future applications, but many social and technical obstacles to the integration of remote sensing into archaeological research and heritage management remain. This article addresses the challenges of contemporary archaeological remote sensing by briefly reviewing trends and then focusing on providing a critical overview of the main structural problems. The discussion here concentrates on topics that have dominated the discourse in recent archaeological literature and featured prominently in ongoing fieldwork for the past decade across three broad segments of landscape archaeology: data collection in the field, the current state of data access and archives, and processing and interpretation.

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Section: Uavsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Trends and Long-standing Problems in Archaeological Remote Sensing

Opitz

Herrmann

2018

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology

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“…UAVs and structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetric software have become go-to tools for monitoring hazardous locations such as landslides [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and subsidence/sinkholes [13][14][15]. These technologies have also been widely adopted in coastal erosion [16][17][18], marine science [19][20][21], both marine and terrestrial ecology [22][23][24][25][26][27], archaeology [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], and civil engineering [36][37][38][39][40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Change Using Quantitative Differencing of Repeat Structure-From-Motion Photogrammetry: The Effect of Storms on Coastal Boulder Deposits

Nagle-McNaughton

Cox

2019

Remote Sensing

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Repeat photogrammetry is increasingly the go-too tool for long-term geomorphic monitoring, but quantifying the differences between structure-from-motion (SfM) models is a developing field. Volumetric differencing software (such as the open-source package CloudCompare) provides an efficient mechanism for quantifying change in landscapes. In this case study, we apply this methodology to coastal boulder deposits on Inishmore, Ireland. Storm waves are known to move these rocks, but boulder transportation and evolution of the deposits are not well documented. We used two disparate SfM data sets for this analysis. The first model was built from imagery captured in 2015 using a GoPro Hero 3+ camera (fisheye lens) and the second used 2017 imagery from a DJI FC300X camera (standard digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera); and we used CloudCompare to measure the differences between them. This study produced two noteworthy findings: First, volumetric differencing reveals that short-term changes in boulder deposits can be larger than expected, and that frequent monitoring can reveal not only the scale but the complexities of boulder transport in this setting. This is a valuable addition to our growing understanding of coastal boulder deposits. Second, SfM models generated by different imaging hardware can be successfully compared at sub-decimeter resolution, even when one of the camera systems has substantial lens distortion. This means that older image sets, which might not otherwise be considered of appropriate quality for co-analysis with more recent data, should not be ignored as data sources in long-term monitoring studies.Despite these improvements in protocols for data collection and analysis, quantifying change via repeat photogrammetry remains a challenge, generally requiring manipulation of digital terrain models (DTMs) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) [45,46]. But recent innovations in 3D differencing software, as implemented in the open-source package CloudCompare (www.danielgm.net/cc/) enable rapid, objective, and replicable quantitative differencing [47]. CloudCompare is a cross-platform 3D point cloud and mesh processing package, which provides a suite of features for direct comparison of dense point clouds (>10 million points) and meshes on standard consumer computer hardware [48,49]. Accessibility and ease of use make CloudCompare an attractive tool, and it is applied increasingly in a variety of fields, including mapping [50,51], archaeology [52,53], and geomorphology [54][55][56][57].Another issue relevant to long term monitoring studies is how to deal with repeat imagery captured using different kinds of hardware, with different resolutions and/or distortion levels. The ultra-wide-angle (fisheye) lenses mounted on the popular consumer camera brand GoPro capture a~120 • field of view, but have barrel distortion due to their short focal length. Despite their limitations, GoPro cameras are popular tools for acquiring UAV imagery [24,31,[58][59][60], they are relatively inexpensive, are light enou...

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“…The GIScompatible datasets produced through IBM-based approaches consist of digital elevation models (DEMs) and orthophotographs, vertical photographs corrected for lens and elevation distortions (Howland, 2014;Verhoeven et al, 2012). The technique can also be married to methods of low-altitude aerial photography to expand the scale of data collection to a site-wide or greater extent (Verhoeven, 2011;Olson et al, 2013;Remondino et al, 2011;Howland, 2014;Smith et al, 2014;Roosevelt, 2014;Sapirstein, 2016;Jorayev et al, 2016). Given the possibility of rapid collection of accurate, precise, and useful 3D and spatial data through combined LAAP and IBM approaches, these methods form an excellent basis for preliminary survey of archaeological sites.…”

Section: Low-altitude Aerial Photography and Structure From Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the effects of erosion on archaeological sites with low-altitude aerial photography, structure from motion, and GIS: A case study from southern Jordan

Howland

Jones

Najjar

et al. 2018

Journal of Archaeological Science

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a b s t r a c tCutting-edge photogrammetric techniques combined with traditional methods are a boon for archaeologists interested in performing spatial analyses. Low-altitude aerial photography (LAAP) combined with photogrammetric Image Based Modeling (IBM) comprise a workflow that allows for precise and accurate recording of both photographic and elevation data of archaeological sites with a great deal of speed and efficiency. Through these techniques, the researcher can create spatially-referenced orthophotos and digital elevation models (DEMs), which can serve as the basis for investigations into site formation processes. Due to the rapidity of the creation of these datasets, analysis of site formation processes can be completed over the course of hours or days. The results of such site formation studies can inform and guide further archaeological investigations of sites. This paper presents the application of a combined LAAP-IBM method to acquire GIS data, which serves as the basis for a case study of a new model of the effects of erosion on archaeological sites e a key factor in understanding site formation processes. These methods are applied to Khirbat Nuqayb al-Asaymir, a Middle Islamic site in southern Jordan, as a case study.

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Drones in Archaeology: Integrated Data Capture, Processing, and Dissemination in the al-Ula Valley, Saudi Arabia

Cited by 45 publications

References 8 publications

Recent Trends and Long-standing Problems in Archaeological Remote Sensing

Recent Trends and Long-standing Problems in Archaeological Remote Sensing

Measuring Change Using Quantitative Differencing of Repeat Structure-From-Motion Photogrammetry: The Effect of Storms on Coastal Boulder Deposits

Quantifying the effects of erosion on archaeological sites with low-altitude aerial photography, structure from motion, and GIS: A case study from southern Jordan

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