Cultural Heritage Through Time (CHT2)
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of Engineering
Abstract
Temporal studies are central to cultural heritage research for the investigation of change, from landscape to architectural scales. Temporal analyses and multi-temporal 3D reconstruction are fundamental for safeguarding and maintaining all forms of cultural heritage. Such studies form the basis for any kind of decision regarding intervention on cultural heritage, helping assess the risks and issues involved.
The aim of the CHT2 project is to fully integrate the fourth dimension (4D) into cultural heritage studies for analysing structures and landscapes through time. CHT2 will collect heterogeneous material (multi-temporal aerial and terrestrial photographs, maps, drawings, etc.) and combine it with contemporary 3D models. These geo-referenced and metric products will be the basis for quantitative analyses about territory transformations or architectural changes, visualization purposes, preservation policies, future planning or possible business applications. Therefore CHT2 will produce time-varying 3D products, from landscape to architectural scale, to envisage and analyse lost scenarios or visualize changes due to anthropic activities or intervention, pollution, wars, earthquakes or other natural hazards. For landscapes it will be possible to chronologically highlight transformations and investigate how urbanization influenced change. For cities, time-varying 3D models will allow the rediscovery of lost areas or buildings. Finally, for architecture or buildings, starting from a 3D model of the actual situation, changes will be highlighted and missing parts will be reconstructed based on historic information. The heterogeneous information necessary for the project's accomplishment will be sought from national museums and archives with the support of the associate partners. A final project exhibition is planned to show the time-varying 3D products generated for the different case studies.
The CHT2 project will rely on an interdisciplinary and international consortium in order to exploit leading expertise in the fields of 3D modelling, data integration, landscape archaeology, GIS, heritage conservation and preservation.
The aim of the CHT2 project is to fully integrate the fourth dimension (4D) into cultural heritage studies for analysing structures and landscapes through time. CHT2 will collect heterogeneous material (multi-temporal aerial and terrestrial photographs, maps, drawings, etc.) and combine it with contemporary 3D models. These geo-referenced and metric products will be the basis for quantitative analyses about territory transformations or architectural changes, visualization purposes, preservation policies, future planning or possible business applications. Therefore CHT2 will produce time-varying 3D products, from landscape to architectural scale, to envisage and analyse lost scenarios or visualize changes due to anthropic activities or intervention, pollution, wars, earthquakes or other natural hazards. For landscapes it will be possible to chronologically highlight transformations and investigate how urbanization influenced change. For cities, time-varying 3D models will allow the rediscovery of lost areas or buildings. Finally, for architecture or buildings, starting from a 3D model of the actual situation, changes will be highlighted and missing parts will be reconstructed based on historic information. The heterogeneous information necessary for the project's accomplishment will be sought from national museums and archives with the support of the associate partners. A final project exhibition is planned to show the time-varying 3D products generated for the different case studies.
The CHT2 project will rely on an interdisciplinary and international consortium in order to exploit leading expertise in the fields of 3D modelling, data integration, landscape archaeology, GIS, heritage conservation and preservation.
Planned Impact
The project outcomes will be valuable to researchers and non-academic stakeholders (e.g. public administrations,
heritage owners, SMEs, etc.). Outcomes will be replicable and have the potential to be used in other contexts or for
promising market applications. The CHT2 results (time-variant 3D reconstructions) will have strong
communicative and didactical potential and so could be used to valorise hidden or lost heritage sites with
multimedia exhibitions, totems around the cities or in museums, schools, internet or mobile apps, etc. Moreover,
CHT2 will support and raise the efforts that are currently undertaken by other Member States of the EU to present
and promote conservation and innovative documentation strategies for diverse Cultural Heritage in order to make
them easily accessible online and usable by a large community. This applies both to ancient structures left by past
civilizations that are now mixed with or hidden in modern environments, or more recent structures altered by
traumatic events (natural or man-made).
heritage owners, SMEs, etc.). Outcomes will be replicable and have the potential to be used in other contexts or for
promising market applications. The CHT2 results (time-variant 3D reconstructions) will have strong
communicative and didactical potential and so could be used to valorise hidden or lost heritage sites with
multimedia exhibitions, totems around the cities or in museums, schools, internet or mobile apps, etc. Moreover,
CHT2 will support and raise the efforts that are currently undertaken by other Member States of the EU to present
and promote conservation and innovative documentation strategies for diverse Cultural Heritage in order to make
them easily accessible online and usable by a large community. This applies both to ancient structures left by past
civilizations that are now mixed with or hidden in modern environments, or more recent structures altered by
traumatic events (natural or man-made).
Publications
Guiney R
(2021)
Integration and Analysis of Multi-Modal Geospatial Secondary Data to Inform Management of at-Risk Archaeological Sites
in ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Hejmanowska B
(2019)
The Comparison of the Web GIS Applications Relevant for 4D Models Sharing
in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
Peppa M
(2018)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL FEATURE DETECTION FROM ARCHIVE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY WITH A SFM-MVS AND IMAGE ENHANCEMENT PIPELINE
in The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
Peppa M
(2018)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL FEATURE DETECTION FROM ARCHIVE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY WITH A SFM-MVS AND IMAGE ENHANCEMENT PIPELINE
in The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
Rodríguez-Gonzálvez P
(2017)
4D RECONSTRUCTION AND VISUALIZATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: ANALYZING OUR LEGACY THROUGH TIME
Rodríguez-Gonzálvez P
(2018)
Latest Developments in Reality-Based 3D Surveying and Modelling
Xiao W
(2018)
Geoinformatics for the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
in ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
| Description | Cultural Heritage Through Time (CHT2) aimed at integrating the temporal dimension, its management, and visualization, for studying and analysing Cultural Heritage structures and landscapes through time. The CHT2 partners were the University of Salamanca (USAL) from Spain, the University of Newcastle (NCL) from UK, the Stanislaw Staszic Scientific Association (SSSA) from Poland, and the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) from Italy that served also as Project Leader. The project goals have been successfully reached with the development of diachronic 3D models (4D models) of four different sites located in the countries of the proposing institutions, and two on-line tools capable to make them accessible through the Internet. After the development of a reliable methodology and the collection of archival and real data on the last effort has been mainly devoted to the integration of data, the implementation of different forms of 4D representations and vibrant dissemination activities. The USAL unit focused its efforts on historic walls of the city of Avila. In particular the 4D modelling was developed for the area around the Alcazar Gate, one of the main entrances in Avila through its majestic walls. USAL also created an independent 4D platform based on CesiumJS, an open-source JavaScript library for visualizing 3D globes and maps. It shows the 3D visualization of a three-dimensional model associated with a specific historical phase of the monument, giving the opportunity to the user to navigate the space in 3D and change historical period with a time-slider (http://tidop.usal.es/cht2/). The tool works under Microsoft Windows. The SSSA based his study on the Krakow Fortress, a complex of about 50 defence structures, focusing specifically on three of them: Fort Kosciuszko, Fort Lysa Gora, and Fort Sudol. In the first two years, SSSA collected historical data for these Fortresses. In the same period, SSSA gathered field measurements with laser scanning and other geomatic techniques for documenting the current status of the monuments. These are relatively young, so the time comparison was based on two stages: the ideal shape after construction reconstructed by the blueprints, and the current form attainable by 3D scans. At the same time, the SSSA team tested five different approaches for visualizing 4D models using web tools. Finally, the free web module CityEngine (ESRI) was chosen as an optimal solution for analysing polygonal 3D models through time, as well as the free package 3DHOP for point clouds. In this last year, the models and selected point clouds of all project units (USAL, SSSA, NCL and POLIMI) have been published though such multi-platform visualizers on a dedicated website. The NCL unit focused his work on three specific sites of the Hadrian Wall: Beckfoot, Corbridge, and Birdoswald, where a natural erosion of the terrain risks to put in danger this critical heritage asset. Here, several historical data have been collected, and in particular, old aerial images that have been reprocessed with modern photogrammetric techniques and compared with recent airborne photogrammetry campaigns to give an estimation of the time evolution of this possible threat. The POLIMI unit studied the evolution in time of the Roman Circus of Milan, a very massive building not anymore existing, located in what is nowadays a very central area of the city, full of public buildings, offices, and private houses. Here the challenge was represented by identifying enough clues of the current state of the monument, characterised by several remains hidden in modern buildings, often in their underground and sometimes integrated with them in a more organic way. Such study - never done before - revealed novel pieces of archaeological evidence, shedding light on this large and hidden monument of the city. |
| Exploitation Route | The developed geo-referenced and metric products are the basis for quantitative analyses about territory transformations or architectural changes, visualization purposes, preservation policies and future planning by the stakeholders of the project, represented by the institutions in charge of managing and conserving the studied sites, that actively participated to the development of the 4D models. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://cht2-project.eu |
| Description | Vindolanda Trust using findings arising from the work to inform future strategies at the Carvoran site on Hadrian's Wall. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | CASE funding for NERC studentship |
| Amount | £3,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Historic England |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 04/2021 |
| Description | NERC IAPETUS DTP STUDENTSHIP |
| Amount | £75,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Description | Collaboration between EUKRI CDT in Geospatial Systems and Vindolanda Trust |
| Organisation | Vindolanda Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Mills is now PI and Director of the CDT in Geospatial Systems. As part of the MRes programme, students undertake a 20 credit group project led by stakeholders. In 2021 this was lead by Andrew Birley of the Vindolanda Trust on Hadrian's Wall - a geospatial systems approach to sustainability of the Wall. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Andrew Birley and Vindolanda Team lead the technical challenge and stakeholder feedback for the project. |
| Impact | Various websites on future sustainability at Carvoran, as well as an academic publication (Guiney et al., 2021) now linked to CHT2 project. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Collaboration with Historic England and English Heritage |
| Organisation | English Heritage |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The project outpus i.e. data generated from archival photographs such as orthomosaics, digital terrain models, field survey at Beckfoot and overal ArcGIS databases for Beckfoot, Corbridge and Birdoswald sites have been shared with Historic England/English. Historic England/English Heritage collaborators are included in the authors list on publications. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Paul Bryan (Historic England), Mike Collins (Historic England) and Mark Douglas (English Heritage) has been providing support to the project by being on the advisory team and providing archival data on Hadrian's Wall (Beckfoot, Birdoswald and Corbridge). English Heritage Trust sponsored digitisation of archival air photographs held by Historic England Archives. |
| Impact | Orthomosaics, digital terrain models and overal ArcGIS for each of three studied sites; field survey at Beckfoot; Conference pulication. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Collaboration with Historic England and English Heritage |
| Organisation | Historic England |
| Department | Scientific Dating Team |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The project outpus i.e. data generated from archival photographs such as orthomosaics, digital terrain models, field survey at Beckfoot and overal ArcGIS databases for Beckfoot, Corbridge and Birdoswald sites have been shared with Historic England/English. Historic England/English Heritage collaborators are included in the authors list on publications. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Paul Bryan (Historic England), Mike Collins (Historic England) and Mark Douglas (English Heritage) has been providing support to the project by being on the advisory team and providing archival data on Hadrian's Wall (Beckfoot, Birdoswald and Corbridge). English Heritage Trust sponsored digitisation of archival air photographs held by Historic England Archives. |
| Impact | Orthomosaics, digital terrain models and overal ArcGIS for each of three studied sites; field survey at Beckfoot; Conference pulication. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Appearance in Massive Online Open Course 'Hadrian's Wall: Life on the Roman Frontier' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of dissemination of the project outcomes the information about CHT2 project was included in 'Hadrian's Wall:Life on the Roman Frontier' Massive Online Open Course in one of the videos entitled 'New perspecives from the air' https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/hadrians-wall/4/steps/126199 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/hadrians-wall/4/steps/126199 |
| Description | CHT2 banners on display at Historic England offices in York |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The CHT2 banners were put on display in the break-out area within the Historic England York offices, to be seen by both Historic England employees and other heritage professionals attending the offices for meetings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| Description | DJI Surveying Webinar Series, gave presentation of UAV work entitled: "Photogrammetric assessment and comparison of DJI Phantom 4 Pro (P4P) and Phantom 4 RTK (P4RTK)" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Newcastle University's research group, Newcastle Earth Observation Laboratory (NEOLab) was invited to present at one of the DJI online webinar series on their experiences of employing DJI drones in research. The webinar was open to the public through registration. I believe there were 50+ participant' who attended. I delivered a 20 minute power point presentation titled "Photogrammetric assessment and comparison of DJI Phantom 4 Pro (P4P) and Phantom 4 RTK (P4RTK)". This work is a continuation of CHT2. The presentations have been made available to those who register with DJI. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://enterprise-insights.dji.com/en/newcastle-earth-observation-lab-webinar |
| Description | DJI Surveying Webinar Series, gave presentation of UAV work undertaken at Beckfoot Roman Fort case study |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Newcastle University's research group, Newcastle Earth Observation Laboratory (NEOLab) was invited to present at one of the DJI online webinar series on their experiences of employing DJI drones in research. The webinar was open to the public through registration. I believe there were 50+ participant' who attended. I delivered a 20 minute power point presentation titled 'Assessing and predicting natural environmental impacts on cultural heritage landscapes: a case study on Hadrian's Wall'. This work is a continuation of CHT2. The presentations have been made available to those who register with DJI. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://enterprise-insights.dji.com/en/newcastle-earth-observation-lab-webinar |
| Description | Emerging Tech in Aerospace System: Current trends and future prospects for geospatial EO technologies: |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | ERDF funded GX programme established as part of the Great Exhibition of the North. Event held at Durham University on 12 Sept 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://getnorth2018.com/previous-events/emerging-tech-in-aerospace-ecosystems/ |
| Description | Hadrian's Wall Pilgrimage - Reception Evening, Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Research outcomes from the CHT2 Project were presented at a reception evening at the Tulle House Museum and Art Gallery in July 2019 as part of the Hadrian's Wall Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage, held every ten years, is a 150 year tradition of archaeologists and enthusiasts travelling along Hadrian's Wall to find out about its latest discoveries. The CHT2 display formed part of a series of posters that promoted past and current research undertaken along Hadrian's Wall by various departments at Newcastle University. More than 200 attendees viewed the CHT2 interactive visualisation and display. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://cht2-project.eu/2019/10/02/hadrians-wall-pilgrimage-reception-evening-tullie-house-museum-and... |
| Description | Lunchtime presentation as part of the "Inspired by" series, run by Newcastle University as part of the 2018 Great Exhibition of the North |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Towns and cities across the North of England can get involved in the biggest event in England this year by putting forward events, experiences and performances inspired by Great Exhibition of the North, which takes place from 22 June - 09 September in NewcastleGateshead. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.ncl.ac.uk/events/noticeboard/item/culturalheritagethroughtime.html |
| Description | NEWCASTLE UNIVERISTY - HERITAGE SHOWCASE Wednesday 24 January 2018, 1.00-5.00pm Clore Suite, Great North Museum: Hancock |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Newcastle has a very strong tradition of pioneering, intellectually significant, and impactful work in heritage, ranging over many academic disciplines and in collaboration with many different sorts of partners. The aim of this event was to highlight some of these long-standing strengths in heritage research and practice, and to discuss with a range of stakeholders how we can best work together in the future. The event was an important opportunity to allow researchers from across disciplines to come together with current and prospective partners to shape the future direction and 'identity' of heritage work at Newcastle. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Poster given at Newcastle University, School of Engineering PGR conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | An updated poster presented on coastal change at Beckfoot Roman Fort at the Newcastle University, School of Engineering PGR conference. This conference is an opportunity for Post-graduate students to present their work to fellow researchers. The poster focused on a GIS analysis of shoreline change from Ordnance Survey Historic Maps using Digital Shoreline Analysis System. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Poster presented at IAPETUS Student Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A poster presented on coastal change at Beckfoot Roman Fort at the IAPETUS Student Conference in Belfast during May 2018. This conference is an opportunity for Post-graduate students to present their work to fellow researchers. The poster focused on a GIS analysis of shoreline change from Ordnance Survey Historic Maps using Digital Shoreline Analysis System. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation at EuroSDR Geoprocessing and archiving of historical aerial images |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 50 - 100 individuals from academia, industry and local and national mapping authorities participated in a workshop on Geoprocessing and archiving of historical aerial images held by EuroSDR at the IGN in Paris, France. The purpose of which was to evaluate the status of the archive digitisation process of historical aerial images and to review their current applications. Maria Valasia Peppa and Lesley Davidson gave a presentation entitled Experiences with processing and co-registration of archival image datasets in which CHT2 was featured. The day of presentation led to an increased interest in improving workflows when digitising and working with the digital outputs from historical aerial images. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://www.eurosdr.net/workshops/geoprocessing-and-archiving-historical-aerial-images |
| Description | Presentation given to the Royal Archaeological Institute |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A talk given to the Royal Archaeological Institute in London, November 2018. This was an opportunity for early career researchers to introduce their work to interested members of the public. The talk focused on an introduction to the three case studies (Corbridge Roman Town, Birdoswald Roman Fort and Beckfoot Roman Fort) and the data types (historic maps, archived aerial photographs and airborne/UAV lidar) used to look at geomorphic change. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation on coastal erosion at Beckfoot Roman Fort given at the Landscape Archaeology Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A presentation given session 18B Climate, Heritage and Environments: collaborative approaches to the study of climate change impacts on the historic environment of the Landscape Archaeology Conference in Newcastle, September 2018. The purpose of the session was to showcase collaborative and innovative research and fieldwork approaches,which aim is to raise knowledge and awareness of the impacts of climate change on heritage sites and landscapes. The talk focused on a GIS analysis of shoreline change from Ordnance Survey Historic Maps using Digital Shoreline Analysis System. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Talk about "The Future of Cultural Heritage: Technologies for preserving the past" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was part of Newcastle University's 'Inspired by' Great Exhibition of the North program 'pop-up' Cafe Scientifique series. The event is shown in the website as follows: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future-of-cultural-heritage-technologies-for-preserving-the-past-tickets-47162914547# Cultural heritage has large historical, social, and anthropological value and is an important enabler of sustainable development. A 4-minute video included in the talk describes how researchers at Newcastle University explored technologies, such as remote sensing and 3D printing, to safeguard the world's cultural heritage for future generations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/nDlpEl-8J2Y |