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The present study examines the structural assessment of Pashas bridge, located at the Western Makedonia, in Greece. This stone arched bridge, which is declared cultural heritage monument, was built during the end of 17th century and it was destructed during the 2nd civil war, in 1941 by British and New Zealander soldiers aiming to end the German invasion to the South of Greece. It was considered the largest bridge in Macedonia, with a length of more than 100 meters, 6 arches, the biggest one of which was almost 15 meters high. In its current form it is partially collapsed.

The restoration of cultural heritage sites is a complex and challenging process, particularly when the structure holds significant historical and cultural value. This paper refers to the first stages of the restoration study of Pashas Bridge, one of the largest stone bridges in Greece that was destroyed during World War II and further damaged by an earthquake in 1995. The project was assigned to multiple research groups from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) for a period of 18 months by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports. To restore the bridge effectively, it is essential to accurately record, document, and assess its current condition. Through the use of photogrammetry, which creates 3D models of objects or structures using images, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which assisted in capturing multiple shots with various angles of the bridge, a detailed 3D model of the bridge’s current condition was generated. In addition to these technical approaches, historical research and documentation were utilized to understand the bridge's cultural heritage value. The process included an examination of historical photographs and records related to the bridge, with a constant effort to discover additional information about its history and importance. Ultimately, the restoration process of Pashas Bridge serves as a valuable case study for the effective restoration of cultural heritage sites. Through utilizing these resources, the team aims to restore the bridge to its former glory, preserving its cultural heritage value and ensuring its place as a valuable and integral part of the community for generations to come.

Threshing floors are common cultural features of the Mediterranean agricultural landscape and have been used from antiquity until some decades ago to thresh grains. Therefore, they constitute an integral part of our tangible and intangible cultural heritage as they are constructions that are linked with complex relationships between crops, technology, folklore, local materials and traditions from our ancestors. However, today, threshing floors are obsolete and destroyed almost everywhere due to modern development and very little attention has been given by archaeologists to these important cultural features. The identification and recording of ancient activity areas such as threshing floors is an important part of archaeological research contributing to the reconstruction of past ways of life and to the preservation of inherited traditions from the past. Access to historical archives of aerial photographs provide a high-quality photographic record, offering considerable potential in detecting ancient threshing floors that do not exist anymore because they have been buried in the course of time or destroyed. This study was conducted to deploy a methodology that deals with the identification of ancient threshing floors and their remains in the island of Cyprus through photo interpretation, by utilizing archival aerial imagery in combination with supplement ethnoarchaeological information.

In 2017 we published a seminal research study in the International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing & Spatial Information Sciences about how smart city tools, solutions and applications underpinned historical and cultural heritage of cities at that time (Angelidou et al. 2017). We now return to investigate the progress that has been made during the past three years, and specifically whether the weak substantiation of cultural heritage in smart city strategies that we observed in 2017 has been improved. The newest literature suggests that smart cities should capitalize on local strengths and give prominence to local culture and traditions and provides a handful of solutions to this end. However, a more thorough examination of what has been actually implemented reveals a (still) rather immature approach. The smart city cases that were selected for the purposes of this research include Tarragona (Spain), Budapest (Hungary) and Karlsruhe (Germany). For each one we collected information regarding the overarching structure of the initiative, the positioning of cultural heritage and the inclusion of heritage-related smart city applications. We then performed a comparative analysis based on a simplified version of the Digital Strategy Canvas. Our findings suggest that a rich cultural heritage and a broader strategic focus on touristic branding and promotion are key ingredients of smart city development in this domain; this is a commonality of all the investigated cities. Moreover, three different strategy architectures emerge, representing the different interplays among the smart city, cultural heritage and sustainable urban development. We conclude that a new generation of smart city initiatives is emerging, in which cultural heritage is of increasing importance. This generation tends to associate cultural heritage with social and cultural values, liveability and sustainable urban development.

The ICOMOS-ISPRS Scientific Committee, CIPA-Heritage Documentation is proud to present this publication in the occasion of its 50th birthday.Our intention with this publication is to look backwards at the achievements of CIPA while at the same time to look ahead the future of cultural heritage documentation.The publication begins with the introductory messages from the Presidents of CIPA, ISPRS and ICOMOS respectively. The first contribution concerns the future of cultural heritage documentation, with respect to the editor’s perspective. Andreas Georgopoulos, current CIPA President (2015–2019) discusses the CIPA slides on architectural photogrammetry and the application of contemporary technologies from its early years. Peter Waldhäusl, past and honorary President of CIPA, writes on the foundation and fundamentals of CIPA in memory of Maurice Carbonnell (1923–2015) and Hans Foramitti (1923–1982), the so-called “fathers of CIPA”. Ross Dallas, an honorary committee member of CIPA, is looking backwards to the late 80s to share some personal thoughts. Bill Blake also is looking towards the history of CIPA and the English Heritage Metric Survey Publication Programme 2000–2009. The publication concludes with the contribution of Fulvio Rinaudo, concerning two CIPA initiatives, the "O. Wagner Pavillon Test" and the "RecorDIM Initiative".

Preventive actions of cultural heritage could be carried out using photogrammetry and computer vision techniques. Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques have been proved to be one of the best solutions for the cultural heritage field in terms of cost, time, accuracy and quality. The current work uses a commercial SfM – based software to generate orthoimages of the Arch of Galerius in Thessaloniki, Greece. This is part of students' project in the framework of an undergraduate course in the School of Spatial Planning and Development, Thessaloniki, Greece, to investigate the status of the Roman monument.

Preventive actions of cultural heritage continuously emerge in order to preserve the identity of the respective civilizations, retain its cultural significance and ensure its accessibility to present and future generations. 3D geomatics technologies along with UAV systems are widely used for documenting existing structures especially in difficult-to-access areas. In addition, Building Information Modelling (BIM) for cultural heritage gains ground towards the sustainable management, update and maintenance of the information. To this context, the current work generates a Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) model of the “Averof’s Museum of Neohellenic art” located in Metsovo, Greece, by using UAV photogrammetry techniques and additional information derived from the architecture designs of the buildings.

This paper presents a Cloud-based open source system for storing and processing data from a 3D survey approach. More specifically, we provide an online service for viewing, storing and analysing BIM. Cloud technologies were used to develop a web interface as a BIM data centre, which can handle large BIM data using a server. The server can be accessed by many users through various electronic devices anytime and anywhere so they can view online 3D models using browsers. Nowadays, the Cloud computing is engaged progressively in facilitating BIM-based collaboration between the multiple stakeholders and disciplinary groups for complicated Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. Besides, the development of Open Source Software (OSS) has been rapidly growing and their use tends to be united. Although BIM and Cloud technologies are extensively known and used, there is a lack of integrated open source Cloud-based platforms able to support all stages of BIM processes. The present research aims to create an open source Cloud-based BIM system that is able to handle geospatial data. In this effort, only open source tools will be used; from the starting point of creating the 3D model with FreeCAD to its online presentation through BIMserver. Python plug-ins will be developed to link the two software which will be distributed and freely available to a large community of professional for their use. The research work will be completed by benchmarking four Cloud-based BIM systems: Autodesk BIM 360, BIMserver, Graphisoft BIMcloud and Onuma System, which present remarkable results.

This paper investigates how the historical and cultural heritage of cities is and can be underpinned by means of smart city tools, solutions and applications. Smart cities stand for a conceptual technology-and-innovation driven urban development model. By becoming ‘smart’, cities seek to achieve prosperity, effectiveness and competitiveness on multiple socio-economic levels. Although cultural heritage is one of the many issues addressed by existing smart city strategies, and despite the documented bilateral benefits, our research about the positioning of urban cultural heritage within three smart city strategies (Barcelona, Amsterdam, and London) reveals fragmented approaches. Our findings suggest that the objective of cultural heritage promotion is not substantially addressed in the investigated smart city strategies. Nevertheless, we observe that cultural heritage management can be incorporated in several different strategic areas of the smart city, reflecting different lines of thinking and serving an array of goals, depending on the case. We conclude that although potential applications and approaches abound, cultural heritage currently stands for a mostly unexploited asset, presenting multiple integration opportunities within smart city contexts. We prompt for further research into bridging the two disciplines and exploiting a variety of use cases with the purpose of enriching the current knowledge base at the intersection of cultural heritage and smart cities.

Characteristic example of the Balkan architecture of the 19th century, consists the "Tower house" which is found in the region of Epirus and Western Macedonia, Greece. Nowadays, the only information about these heritage buildings could be abstracted by the architectural designs on hand and the model – Tower that is being displayed in the Folklore Museum of the Municipality of Kozani, Greece, as a maquette. The current work generates a scaled 3D digital model of the "Tower house", by using photogrammetry techniques applied on the model-maquette that is being displayed in the Museum exhibits.

Recent research on the field of Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology, revealed that except of a few, accessible and free BIM viewers there is a lack of Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) BIM software for the complete BIM process. With this in mind and considering BIM as the technological advancement of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems, the current work proposes the use of a FOSS CAD software in order to extend its capabilities and transform it gradually into a FOSS BIM platform. Towards this undertaking, a first approach on developing a spatial Database Management System (DBMS) able to store, organize and manage the overall amount of information within a single application, is presented.

The paper illustrates the use of open source Computer-aided design (CAD) environments in order to develop Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools able to manage 3D models in the field of cultural heritage. Nowadays, the development of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has been rapidly growing and their use tends to be consolidated. Although BIM technology is widely known and used, there is a lack of integrated open source platforms able to support all stages of Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) processes. The present research aims to use a FOSS CAD environment in order to develop BIM plug-ins which will be able to import and edit digital representations of cultural heritage models derived by photogrammetric methods.

There is a continuous and increasing demand for solutions, both software and hardware-based, that are able to productively handle underground utilities geospatial data. Innovative approaches that are based on the use of the European GNSS, Galileo and EGNOS, sensor technologies and LBS, are able to monitor, document and manage utility infrastructures’ data with an intuitive 3D augmented visualisation and navigation/positioning technology. A software and hardware-based system called LARA, currently under develop- ment through a H2020 co-funded project, aims at meeting that demand. The concept of LARA is to integrate the different innovative components of existing technologies in order to design and develop an integrated navigation/positioning and information system which coordinates GNSS, AR, 3D GIS and geodatabases on a mobile platform for monitoring, documenting and managing utility infrastruc- tures on-site. The LARA system will guide utility field workers to locate the working area by helping them see beneath the ground, rendering the complexity of the 3D models of the underground grid such as water, gas and electricity. The capacity and benefits of LARA are scheduled to be tested in two case studies located in Greece and the United Kingdom with various underground utilities. The paper aspires to present the first results from this initiative. The project leading to this application has received funding from the European GNSS Agency under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 641460.

Quick and economical ways of detecting of planimetric and volumetric changes of forest areas are in high demand. A research platform, called FORSAT (A satellite processing platform for high resolution forest assessment), was developed for the extraction of 3D geometric information from VHR (very-high resolution) imagery from satellite optical sensors and automatic change detection. This 3D forest information solution was developed during a Eurostars project. FORSAT includes two main units. The first one is dedicated to the geometric and radiometric processing of satellite optical imagery and 2D/3D information extraction. This includes: image radiometric pre-processing, image and ground point measurement, improvement of geometric sensor orientation, quasiepipolar image generation for stereo measurements, digital surface model (DSM) extraction by using a precise and robust image matching approach specially designed for VHR satellite imagery, generation of orthoimages, and 3D measurements in single images using mono-plotting and in stereo images as well as triplets. FORSAT supports most of the VHR optically imagery commonly used for civil applications: IKONOS, OrbView – 3, SPOT – 5 HRS, SPOT – 5 HRG, QuickBird, GeoEye-1, WorldView-1/2, Pléiades 1A/1B, SPOT 6/7, and sensors of similar type to be expected in the future. The second unit of FORSAT is dedicated to 3D surface comparison for change detection. It allows users to import digital elevation models (DEMs), align them using an advanced 3D surface matching approach and calculate the 3D differences and volume changes between epochs. To this end our 3D surface matching method LS3D is being used. FORSAT is a single source and flexible forest information solution with a very competitive price/quality ratio, allowing expert and non-expert remote sensing users to monitor forests in three and four dimensions from VHR optical imagery for many forest information needs. The capacity and benefits of FORSAT have been tested in six case studies located in Austria, Cyprus, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey, using optical data from different sensors and with the purpose to monitor forest with different geometric characteristics. The validation run on Cyprus dataset is reported and commented.

Scoliosis is a 3D deformity of the human spinal column that is caused from the bending of the latter, causing pain, aesthetic and respiratory problems. This internal deformation is reflected in the outer shape of the human back. The golden standard for diagnosis and monitoring of scoliosis is the Cobb angle, which refers to the internal curvature of the trunk. This work is the first part of a post-doctoral research, presenting the most important researches that have been done in the field of scoliosis, concerning its digital visualisation, in order to provide a more precise and robust identification and monitoring of scoliosis. The research is divided in four fields, namely, the X-ray processing, the automatic Cobb angle(s) calculation, the 3D modelling of the spine that provides a more accurate representation of the trunk and the reduction of X-ray radiation exposure throughout the monitoring of scoliosis. Despite the fact that many researchers have been working on the field for the last decade at least, there is no reliable and universal tool to automatically calculate the Cobb angle(s) and successfully perform proper 3D modelling of the spinal column that would assist a more accurate detection and monitoring of scoliosis.

We discuss the evolution and state-of-the-art of the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the field of culture heritage documentation. BIM is a hot theme involving different characteristics including principles, technology, even privacy rights for the cultural heritage objects. Modern documentation needs identified the potential of BIM in the recent years. Many architects, archaeologists, conservationists, engineers regard BIM as a disruptive force, changing the way professionals can document and manage a cultural heritage structure. The latest years, there are many developments in the BIM field while the developed technology and methods challenged the cultural heritage community in the documentation framework. In this review article, following a brief historic background for the BIM, we review the recent developments focusing in the cultural heritage documentation perspective.

Virtual reality (VR) is extensively used in various applications; in industry, in academia, in business, and is becoming more and more affordable for end users from the financial point of view. At the same time, in academia and higher education more and more applications are developed, like in medicine, engineering, etc. and students are inquiring to be well-prepared for their professional life after their educational life cycle. Moreover, VR is providing the benefits having the possibility to improve skills but also to understand space as well. This paper presents the methodology used during a course, namely "Geoinformatics applications" at the School of Spatial Planning and Development (Eng.), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, to create a virtual School space. The course design focuses on the methods and techniques to be used in order to develop the virtual environment. In addition the project aspires to become more and more effective for the students and provide a real virtual environment with useful information not only for the students but also for any citizen interested in the academic life at the School.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), which is still at a very early stage, to identify its use worldwide including characteristic examples and research its potential applications in Cultural Heritage and Archaeology as a new field for study. In the first part of the paper a brief review of the field is given, the international terminology and its components are analysed. The basic framework of VGI and the international research trends are presented as well. The second part deals with the applications of VGI in Cultural Heritage and Archaeology. Finally, some thoughts, conclusions and recommendations for action and institutionalization of use are offered underlining that VGI cannot be applied to Archaeology without professional attendance and supervision so as unwanted results can be prevented.