For cultural heritage recording cost effective and easy to use methods offer many advantages and techniques based upon close-range photogrammetry have proved effective in this area. Off-the-shelf digital cameras can be used to rapidly acquire data and at low cost, allowing non-experts to become involved in both recording and measurement (Bryan and Chandler, 2008). However, the necessity to derive the exterior orientation of the camera from coordinated control points is time consuming and costly and using targets can be often undesirable at sensitive sites. In this PhD programme, developed in collaboration with English Heritage, it is suggested that these problems can be overcome by deriving exterior orientation parameters directly. Therefore a recording system comprising an of off-the-shelf digital SLR camera, a small and comparatively cheap orientation sensor, and DGPS has been developed.

The article reports the photogrammetry work undertaken during the recent Northumberland and Durham Rock-Art Project (NADRAP) aiming at creating a georeferenced index of around 1500 known rock art panels located in the north-east of England.

A multi-resolution multi-sensor approach was employed for the 3D modeling of the entire Roman Forum in Pompeii, Italy. The archaeological area, approximately 150 x 80 m, contains more than 350 finds spread all over the Forum as well as larger mural structures of previous buildings and temples. The interdisciplinary 3D modeling work consists of a multi-scale image- and range-based digital documentation method developed to fulfill all the surveying and archaeological needs and exploit all the potentialities of the actual 3D modeling techniques. Data’s resolution spans from few centimeters down to few millimeters, both in geometry and texture.

Three-dimensional documentation of heritage buildings and objects is important for conservation, restoration, visualization, education and preservation. When it comes to complex architectural structures such as castles, no single modeling technique is capable of yielding cost-effective, highly detailed and accurate photo-realistic 3D results. Therefore the integration of all the actual surveying techniques is leading to the best 3D modeling results.

In 1860, Bishop Michael Flannery launched a plan to upgrade Nenagh Castle, a fine specimen of Norman architecture located on the patch of land he’d just purchased in Tipperary, Northern Ireland. For funding, he relied on donors from North America, among other sources. Naturally, when the U.S. Civil War broke out in 1861, the flow of funds dried up, and the bishop was forced to halt construction. Flannery did manage to leave his mark on the castle in the form of a series of battlements with windows. Little did the bishop know his crowning legacy would help solve a surveyor’s dilemma one-and-ahalf centuries later.