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Terrestrial Scanning / Archaeology & Cultural Heritage

The Domitilla-Catacomb in Rome, Italy 02.05.2010

C. Scheiblauer - N. Zimmermann - M. Wimmer: "Interactive Domitilla Catacomb Exploration", Eurographics Association 2009
An approach for interactive visualization and manipulation of huge point clouds is presented. Archaeological monuments like the Domitilla Catacomb in Rome lead to data sets surpassing 1 Billion (109) points or 20GB of storage space, which makes standard techniques like mesh conversion or in-core point-based rendering infeasible.
The presented system uses an out-of-core octree structure and a number of interactive editing tools to enable many archaeological tasks to be carried out on the whole point cloud that would not be possible using traditional methods. Fast selection, insertion and deletion of points is allowed, and through out-of-core rendering, the frame rate always stays above 20 frames per second on a fast workstation. As far as already known, this is the first interactive visualization of the complete data set of a large subterranean catacomb, and it is shown that direct point cloud visualization on the complete data set of a scan campaign is an important tool in archaeological practice.

N. Zimmermann - G. Esser: "Showing the Invisible - Documentation and Research on the Roman Domitilla Catacomb based on Image-Laser-Scanning and 3D-Modelling", CAA Berlin 2007
The possibilities offered by new technologies do not automatically substitute traditional techniques. Es-pecially in the collaboration between humanities and natural sciences, not all that is technically possible is also helpful for the study. In this paper we want to present an archaeological project that connects both, solid basic research and newest technologies, offering a new way to perceive historical space by creating three-dimensional virtual reality models. We will give an overview of the technical aspects of the first year of the Domitilla project: The first part introduces the catacomb and shows the state of study and the concept of the research, while the second part will report on the strategy and on the first results of the documentation.


G. Esser - I. Mayer: "3d-geometry and 3d-texture. Documenting early-Christian wall paintings at the Domitilla Catacomb in Rome.", Archäologie & Computer Wien 2007
The paper is intended to refer what is to become the new standard in catacomb documentation, being evolved as one of the major research strategies of the Austrian START Project “The Domitilla Catacomb in Rome. Archaeology, Architecture and Art History of a Late Roman Cemetery”. The approach is based on image laser scanning and mapping of separately taken photographs, creating photorealistic 3d models, which are to serve as a new kind of data-base for further studies.

G. Esser - I. Mayer - N. Studnicka: "Die Domitilla-Katakombe in Rom" , Altbergbaukolloquium Leoben 2009
Am Beispiel der Domitilla-Katakombe wurde ein Workflow erarbeitet, der die Aufnahme und Ausarbeitung von Geometrie- und Texturdaten mit dem Ergebnis einer ganzen Palette von effizienten Dokumentationsprodukten unterschiedlicher Aussage und Detaillierung ermöglicht. Im Rahmen der Katakombenforschung stellt diese Dokumentation die erste vollständige, formtreue und räumlich vollflächige Erfassung einer solchen Anlage dar.
Die neue Methode kann verlustfrei auf Objekte ähnlicher Art und Größe - so etwa die Raumkörper des Altbergbaus - übertragen werden. Auf diese Weise könnten auch hier anhand eines vergleichbaren Daten-Materials bauhistorisch und bautechnisch bedeutsame Fragestellungen vor dem neuen Dokumentations-Hintergrund diskutiert und umfassend bearbeitet werden.