Fulvio Rinaudo

This paper presents the 3D metric survey of the Genete Leul Palace in Addis Ababa, carried out by the Geomatics Group of Politecnico di Torino within an international cooperation project aimed at supporting the restoration of this significant heritage site. The research explores the application of an integrated and rapid survey methodology combining Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), SLAM-based Mobile Mapping Systems (MMS), and UAV photogrammetry, adapted to a context characterized by logistical, regulatory, and infrastructural constraints. Despite challenges such as customs delays, limited equipment availability, and restricted UAV operations, the survey was successfully completed within a short timeframe while ensuring metric accuracy suitable for restoration purposes. A topographic control network enabled the integration of multi-sensor datasets into a consistent reference system, supporting the generation of reliable 3D models and 2D architectural drawings. The results demonstrate that hybrid workflows can effectively balance accuracy and efficiency, even in complex and time-constrained environments. The study highlights the importance of context-aware strategies and collaboration with local partners as key factors for success. Ultimately, the project confirms that advanced geomatic methods can provide sustainable, replicable solutions for cultural heritage documentation in developing countries, thereby promoting knowledge transfer, preservation, and socio-economic development.

Rural heritage places embody dynamic interactions between people and nature, shaped by traditional practices and adaptive responses over time. Despite their significance, rural areas are often overlooked in conservation and policy frameworks. This paper develops a GIS-based information and decision-support system for the comprehensive identification and assessment of rural heritage values, using Ankara’s rural landscapes as a case study. The study integrates extensive literature and archival research, detailed field surveys, and qualitative investigations to collect multiscalar, multi-disciplinary data. The RURANKARA•GIS database systematically organizes and analyses this data to identify the social, cultural, economic, and environmental resources vital for sustainable heritage management. A spatio-temporal analysis at the territorial scale mapped settlement patterns, land use changes, and socio-economic practices, while the town-scale application in Çamlıdere provided detailed assessments of character and risk areas. GIS technologies proved essential for managing heterogeneous data, enabling dynamic updates, spatial analyses, and clear visualizations, although limitations such as data gaps and the challenge of representing intangible heritage were acknowledged. The developed system not only supports academic research but also offers a strategic, operational tool for local governments and policymakers to guide sustainable rural development. Ultimately, this study highlights the importance of adopting holistic, multi-dimensional approaches in rural heritage management and provides a transparent, participatory model that bridges research, practice, and policy. The RURANKARA×GIS database contributes a replicable methodology for informing heritage-led rural development both within Ankara and in broader contexts.

The documentation of cultural heritage, particularly built heritage, represents a critical component in ensuring its preservation, sustainable management, and effective transmission to future generations. As the field increasingly undergoes a digital transformation, there is a growing need for structured, standardised approaches that can guide professionals and stakeholders through the complexities of documentation practices. Despite the availability of numerous standards and charters, a clear synthesis of consolidated methodologies and recent technological shifts remains limited. This study addresses this gap by conducting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to assess current documentation practices. The research is part of a larger initiative funded by the FSE REACT-EU programme under the Italian PON Ricerca e Innovazione 2014–2020, specifically aiming to support public and private stakeholders in developing practical documentation strategies. Using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework, over 266 publications were analysed to reconstruct the state of the art. The findings confirm widely adopted practices among research groups while also highlighting emerging trends driven by technological advancements in geomatics. These insights will contribute to the formulation of practical guidelines to support operators in the field and reinforce the integration of innovative tools in Cultural Heritage documentation workflows.

Among the different activities of the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) sector, the documentation phase is pivotal and covers the entire lifecycle of a building or infrastructure. In the last decade, in the geomatic field, technology has evolved rapidly, and several instruments and techniques have become available to assist operators in this documentation process. Furthermore, the AEC sector is moving toward the extensive use of Digital Twins, and the research presented in this paper focuses on the technological solutions available today for creating the metric and geometric base of the Digital Twin at the service of AEC sector. Geomatics instruments and techniques are widely adopted in this framework, particularly HMLS (Handheld Mobile Laser Scanner). This research will evaluate the differences in performances between the first and second generation of HMLS based on SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) technologies in terms of accuracy, precision, level of detail, data density, noise, and other relevant characteristics. To address the research questions of this work, it was decided to perform a series of tests in an ad hoc test field following predefined acquisition strategies and procedures. A series of analyses were then conducted on the processed data to evaluate several factors, particularly georeferencing of HMLS data, features analyses on specific areas, Cloud-to-Cloud analysis, and cross-sections analysis.

Although HBIM (Historical Building Information Modeling) excels in geometric data acquisition and modeling within Scan-to-BIM (Building Information Modeling) workflows, its application in digital documentation faces persistent challenges, such as balancing precision and efficiency, ambiguous information structures, and the absence of standardized protocols. To address these issues, this study refines key steps from the systematic Scan-to-BIM process and proposes a documentation-oriented HBIM workflow. The workflow is designed to tackle data complexity and semantic alignment challenges through detailed strategic planning, standard data collection, efficient geometric modeling, and ontology-based information integration. Validated in the Valentino Castle’s north wing digital archiving project, the proposed framework emphasizes archival management and standardization, reducing reliance on high-precision point cloud data and complex geometric modeling. Instead, it adopts low-precision geometric models as information storage containers, employing standardized information structures to manage and transfer heterogeneous data. Key contributions include the following: (1) establishing a requirements-driven and model-level-based framework for standardized project management; (2) introducing a component alignment concept to harmonize IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) standards and traditional terminologies; and (3) developing a four-level information structure to enhance HBIM parameter and database management. The workflow significantly reduces data acquisition and modeling time while offering a replicable methodology for heritage documentation, promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration and standardization in digital preservation practices.

In architectural heritage research, rituals and human activities are often overlooked but are crucial for maintaining authenticity and reflecting various cultural values. In the Tibetan-Yi Corridor, one of China’s most renowned heritage routes, rituals and behaviours around the central pillar or fire pit reflect the shared culture and history of Di-Qiang ethnic groups, serving as critical indicators in studying their origins. A scientific method linking physical spaces with intangible cultural information is essential to preserve these rituals or activities and understand their interactions with architectural spaces. This study introduces a method utilising HBIM technology to document and analyse the 3D structures of Di-Qiang ethnic architecture and the rituals. It deconstructs rituals into bodily movements represented within the BIM space to simulate the behaviours of various roles. This method visualises ritual types and critical information by encoding different rituals and movements through geometric shapes, sizes, and colours, effectively linking architectural spaces with intangible cultural elements. The study’s two main contributions are (i) the HBIM archival method for Di-Qiang ethnic architecture, standardising geometric modelling and semantic information recording to digitise Di-Qiang architectural heritage, and forming a foundational 3D model library and semantic database; and (ii) the 3D representation method for ritual movements, which offers a way to manage intangible cultural information and spatially assess cultural behaviours, and evaluates the authenticity and quality of architectural heritage by analysing bodily rituals in space. This approach introduces a novel method for documenting and researching intangible heritage in cultural studies. Additionally, the digital technology-based research method offers a convenient platform for integrating and connecting digital heritage with digital humanities in the future.

Framed on a wider research project that investigates Geometry as a cultural substrate and shared language for the comprehension of Architecture and its shapes, the presented research focuses on the geometric analysis and dissemination actions of a vault of the Royal Residence of Venaria Reale, designed by Benedetto Alfieri in the XVIII century. The vault is the only one offering to visitors’ sight both its intrados and extrados surfaces. We propose an interdisciplinary approach that uses Geometry both as qualifying intangible heritage of the built shapes and as a language transversal to observation and survey, return of data and their interpretation from a dissemination point of view. To achieve this, we propose an innovative use of physical models, both in their meaning of object to be explored and in that of their design, between prototyping and seriality. Interaction between public and physical models becomes a way to promote critical shape-reading activities and to enhance spatial visualization abilities by their haptic/visual exploration, to recognize 3D built geometry and to explore architecture from different a point of view, getting closer to its shapes.

The ERASMUS+ initiative funded, in 2019, a Capacity Building project named ERAMCA (Environmental Risk Assessment and Mitigation in Central Asia) to build up a study plan at the Master of Science level (120 ECTS in 2 academic years) open to Architects, Civil, Building, and Environmental Engineers to build-up a new generation of professionals able to work in a team with different specialities to document Cultural Heritage assets by considering environmental risks. These new professionals will be able to set up the helpful basic knowledge to plan future actions of preservation and enhancement by following the most recent development in the restoration field at the international level.The ERAMCA project started with a survey of the basic knowledge of architects and engineers in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on the documentation of natural and anthropic risks.By considering the common knowledge, the Partners of the ERAMCA project (3 European Universities from Italy, Germany, and Croatia and 4 Universities from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) realised a study plan by concentrating the teaching activity on the following disciplines: Geomatics, Restoration, Structure and Seismic Engineering, Hydrogeology and Geotechnics.ERAMCA project is in its last year of activity, and the final results can be presented and discussed among the Cultural Heritage Documentation community to offer possible suggestions for future actions to diffuse documentation strategies.

The documentation process of Built Heritage could be really challenging, and managing the different phases of this process is not always straightforward. The metric survey design is still one of the most complex and delicate tasks in the overall process: it drives the activities of data acquisition, processing, validation, interpretation, and final product delivery. It encompasses several aspects: stakeholders involvement, choice of instruments and techniques, available resources (not only economical but also in terms of human resources) timelines, etc. Moreover, a wrong or inaccurate metric survey design can lead to significant mistakes during the data acquisition phase that can result in the collection of redundant data or, worst-case scenario, a lack of data. After a brief state-of-the-art in the European and Italian framework, the research presented in this work will focus on the different aspects of the documentation process and, more specifically, on new digital tools that can assist this step of the Built Heritage documentation. More specifically, the contribution will focus on 360° cameras and the related cloud-based platforms for using and sharing these types of data. This market sector has been rapidly growing in the last years, and we faced a lowering of the purchase costs for these systems together with a wider availability of different sensors. Finally, the resolution has reached exciting levels with sensors that can record 360° data up to 6K/8K.

Rapid mapping techniques based on UAV photogrammetry and portable systems are increasingly helping cultural heritage sites’ digitization, in case of large contexts or complex accessibility. At the same time, a wider range of more consolidated image- and range-based approaches could be useful, but challenging to be applied depending on materials, accessibility, or light conditions. However, the fundamental issue of integrating and optimizing the large amount of metric data of different origins in 3D accurate models remains open. An integrated system is needed to support the work of expert conservator and restorers, as well as archaeological investigation, on onsite work and, mainly, on remote activity. This paper aims to present the metric survey project carried out in the Fort component of the World Heritage property Qal'at al-Bahrain – the Ancient Harbour and Capital of Dilmun. The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) started the initiative towards the conservation of the historic forts of the Kingdom of Bahrain. This requires a tailored approach to the uniqueness and outstanding significance of the sites. The digital products are baseline data and support the future conservation decisions. The validation of the integrated approach adopted for the survey of the Qal’at al-Bahrain will be presented and discussed in this paper. The validation aims for the integrated pipelines are targeted focusing on the aspects connected to the repeatability and the applicability of the methodological approach in the other sites with the same context and features, and this may also lead to further future reflections related to the sustainability of the survey.