Integration of low altitude aerial & terrestrial photogrammetry data in 3D heritage building modeling

Aerial photogrammetry is one of the geomatic technologies that can be used to produce topographic map while terrestrial photogrammetry has been used to produce 3D model of objects. Both methods could be used for many applications including for recording heritage building. This study is carried out to investigate the combination of two photogrammetric methods i.e aerial photogrammetry which utilizes light weight rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and terrestrial photogrammetry for the production of 3D heritage building. In this study, a building is simulated as a heritage building located in the precinct of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The UAV was used to acquire the digital aerial images of the building and its' surrounding where the UAV is equipped with high resolution digital camera. For terrestrial photogrammetry, the digital images of the building facades are acquired from the ground using the similar high resolution digital camera. For accurate measurement, the high resolution digital camera is calibrated and later the recovered parameters are used for digital image processing. Surrounding and on the façades of the building, ground control points (GCP) and control points (CP) are established respectively using total station. The GCP is used in image processing of aerial photogrammetry to produce the orthophoto and foot print of the building. For the CP it is used in image processing of terrestrial photogrammetry to produce 3D model of the building. Then the results from both methods are combined together where the 3D model of the building is placed on the footprint of the building in the orthophoto. In conclusion, product of geomatic has been used by archeologist for decades, however, product such as 3D building could assist archeologist to produce better recoding of a heritage building.