The Use of UAV Platforms for Cultural Heritage Monitoring and Surveying

Dear Colleagues,

Optical images and photogrammetric procedures have supported the documentation and monitoring of cultural heritage for over a century. High vantage points for taking the images were always advantageous, as they offer to the observer an overall and more holistic view of the site. Low-altitude photography has equally been a tool for cultural heritage documentation, however the platforms (kites, balloons, petrol-engine-propelled model aircraft and helicopters) were rather tedious to operate until, of course, the advent and the development of electrical motors and the subsequent boom of UAVs.

Almost two decades of research and development has led to either fixed-wing or multi-rotor machines of many sizes and capabilities, able to perform accurate flights with significant payloads. Any kind of sensor (optical, Infrared, LiDAR, etc.) is now possible lift and, hence, a multitude of data can be collected in a fraction of the time and cost required in the past.

This Special Issue aims to attract contributions from experts all over the world reporting on the development and application of UAV-borne sensors of any kind to document and monitor cultural heritage sites.

Contributions are welcome covering the following—and other—subjects:

• Innovative implementations of UAV-borne optical images and LiDAR to monitoring and documenting cultural heritage sites;
• Innovative applications of multispectral data acquisitions via a UAV platform for cultural heritage sites;
• Development of software solutions to overcome the deficiencies of the UAV-borne sensors (e.g., low-resolution small GSD, Rolling shutter, etc.);
• Developing of automated solutions for processing the large amount of image data acquired by low-altitude flights for cultural heritage surveying and monitoring;
• Developing integrated UAV solutions for cultural heritage documentation.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Georgopoulos
Dr. Dimitrios Skarlatos
Guest Editors

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• UAV
• cultural heritage documentation
• image-based modeling
• multispectral data acquisition UAV-borne LiDAR