Techniques of Geomatics and Soft Computing for the Monitoring of Unsafe Buildings

Abstract

The proposed research activity is part of the conservation of cultural heritage and is based on the study and development of advanced techniques for monitoring, inspecting and mapping building cracks in order to obtain and constantly update the state of building safety through a GIS platform. The data collection (initial and periodic) is one of the most important phases of the monitoring process and allows us to obtain information about the integrity of the buildings, essential in order to plan future design and intervention choices. This operation can be carried out both through traditional tools (3D laser scanners, GNSS receivers, motorized total station) and innovative tools (such as remote sensing or UAVs). The goal of the research was the design and construction of an innovative automated system for monitoring and continuous data acquisition (big data). Furthermore, we have implemented algorithms dedicated to the management of the amount of georeferenced data (big data) acquired. We optimized their representation on GIS (Geographic Information System) platforms in order to obtain an “open and updatable” thematic cartography, and set up a sort of Cadastre of unsafe buildings in the village of Casalvecchio Siculo (possibly extended to other villages in the future). This is intended (in our application) as an updatable IT tool for archiving, viewing, querying and managing all the data that the municipality and the regions have on their own villages. In it, it will be possible to represent the elements inherent to the geometric characteristics of the buildings, their relevance, the state of the cracks, the interventions carried out in the most important historic buildings and the systems created, having databases available that allow quick selective searches by topics.