3D multiresolution representations in archaeological sites, CIPA 2005 XX Internationa al Symposium “International cooperation to save the word’s cultural heritage

Acquisition, management and processing survey data in a digital form opens up exciting new opportunities to represent the territory, its architecture, and its objects efficiently by building 3D models. In the case of archaeological sites, data and information of structures on the territory and related objects, represented in territorial scale, must be managed, processed and represented in an integrated way since they all together constitute a complex unit that can be difficult to break down. The ability to manage data in a comprehensive way emerges from the possibility to create multi-resolution models, namely, models that can be used on several nominal scales of representation. The various scales generally arise from survey at several different nominal scales of objects that traditionally need a different detailed definition, such as an entire archaeological site or a monument on the site or fragments of architecture. If these territorial objects (the site, architectures, and specific objects) cohabit within complex models which have to be managed and consequently uniformly represented on diverse scales, we have to identify strategies for survey as well as integration, with a view to achieving multi-resolution. For this purpose, it has become essential to study the relationship between the accuracy of the model, arising from the uncertainty of the measures, and simplification of the model, arising from the need to select and transmit only the geometric information deeme