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3D Laser Scanning for Geoarchaelogical Documentation and Analysis

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Digital Geoarchaeology

Part of the book series: Natural Science in Archaeology ((ARCHAEOLOGY))

Abstract

Geoarchaeology is an interdisciplinary research area that applies geoscientific concepts, methods and knowledge for analysis of archaeological sites, as well as the reconstruction of past environments. Geoarchaeologic sites can be documented, and specific research questions can be solved by the implementation of available remote sensing methods, in particular by laser scanning. Therefore, the general workflow of applying laser scanning and particularly steps for data integration are shown, as well as specific analysis and visualization steps. However, there are still problems to be solved, which are, for example, the storage, exchange, quality control and metadata description of 3D models, as well as specific problems with each method.

The exemplary workflow in this chapter describes the steps of field campaign planning, data acquisition steps, preprocessing steps and different analysis. The main issues in field campaign preparation are training on the instrument and establishing common field procedures, as well as getting to know and discuss the aims of the project. Data acquisition in the field can be divided in the crucial steps of scan position estimation, setting the resolution and knowing the errors as well as conducting different registration tasks. These steps directly affect the necessary preprocessing steps, such as registration, filtering and further adjustments to the point clouds. The final data set can be used in the following analysis steps that are divided in an iconic reconstruction and symbolic modelling. For all of these steps, different software packages are listed. Finally, different analysis results are depicted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GIS & Remote Sensing, Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Dirk Hoffmeister

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  1. Institute of Geography, Physical Geography, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Christoph Siart

  2. Institute of Geography, Physical Geography, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Markus Forbriger

  3. Institute of Geography, Physical Geography, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Olaf Bubenzer

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Hoffmeister, D. (2018). 3D Laser Scanning for Geoarchaelogical Documentation and Analysis. In: Siart, C., Forbriger, M., Bubenzer, O. (eds) Digital Geoarchaeology. Natural Science in Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25316-9_12

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