University of Southampton OCS (beta), CAA 2012

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Photographic rectification and photogrammetric methodology applied to the study of construction process of the Provincial Forum of Tarraco (Spain)
Maria Serena Vinci

Last modified: 2011-12-18

Abstract


The purpose of the proposed study refers to the correct application of the  photographic rectification and photogrammetric methodology used as graphic support for the understanding of the constructive processes of Roman structures.The analysis of construction processes of the Provincial Forum of Tarraco  involved the need of an accurate and essential graphic documentation, the achievement of which may suffer from practical limitations typical of urban environment (space, time, financial and technical resources, etc.). Depending on the structure of interest and the amount of available data, a two-dimensional reproduction or a digital model was used. In both cases, according with the location of the archaeological evidence, the data were collected with or without the use of topographic control points. However, while for the two-dimensional reproduction a single photo was required used to carry out the specific photographic rectification, for the digital model pairs of photos were necessary to get the stereographic view. The image and data processing allowed the identification of an incredible  numbers of information and details about the construction processes of the many of the structures of the Provincial Forum, nonetheless, often the size of such structures  beside the modern urban enviroment give time-space limitations. The applied computing methodology led to obtain two-dimensional images as well as digital models in a straight, fast and accurate way; the images and the models obtained have been successfully used in different studies, among the others:  the study of the modulation used in the building of the structures and the exact identification of the working tools used for the manufacture of building materials; interesting the high accuracy of the analysis allows not just the mere identification of the type of the working tools but also their classification based on the size of the  footprints left in the worked pieces. In conclusion, the combinations of orthoimages obtained through the software PhoToPlan (Kubit) and the digital models of the structures elaborated through the program Topcon-Image Master represented a perfect solution to get the results of our interest.

Keywords


photogrammetry metodology; photografic rectification; constructive processes