Integration of Tof Camera and Multi-image Matching Approach for Cultural Heritage Survey

In the last few years, several papers dealing with the integration between different surveying techniques (such as photogrammetry, LiDAR, NIR image processing, 2D digital maps, etc.) have been already presented. The main idea of these works is the possibility to overcome the individual weakness of each technique through their combined use, exploiting their complementary nature. In this work, the new integration between data provided by Time-of-Flight (ToF) cameras and a multi-image matching technique is presented. In particular, this approach is considered for the cultural heritage data acquisition and processing. The main advantage is given by the quickness in the data acquisition (only few minutes are requested) and the reduced cost of the instruments, if compared to terrestrial laser scanners. According to the proposed approach, ToF camera and photogrammetric techniques continuously share information in order to extract the geometric breaklines necessary for the cultural heritage survey. One of the first experiences applying this new method on an architectural artefact is presented, in order to show its potentiality for metric survey and architectural drawing purposes. * Corresponding author.