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PHOTOGRAMMETRY FOR VIRTUAL EXPLORATION OF UNDERWATER
ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES
P. Drap
a,
*, J. Seinturier
a
, D. Scaradozzi
b
, P. Gambogi
c
, L. Long
d
, F. Gauch
e
a
LSIS Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Information et des Systèmes UMR CNRS 6168 - Pierre.Drap@esil.univmed.fr
b
Interuniversity Centre for Integrated Systems for the Marine Environment (ISME) c/o DIST, Università di Genova,
Italy
d.scaradozzi@univpm.it
c
SBAT Soprintendanza per i Beni Archaeologici della Toscana, Firenze, Italy
d
D.R.A.S.S.M Département des Recherches Archéologiques Subaquatiques et Sous-Marines Marseille, France
luc.long@culture.gouv.fr
e
COMEX, COmpagnie Maritime d’EXpertise Marseille, France f.gauch@comex.fr
KEY WORDS: Underwater, Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, Bathymetry, Photogrammetry
ABSTRACT:
This article describes on-going developments of the VENUS European Project (Virtual ExploratioN of Underwater Sites,
http://www.venus-project.eu) concerning the first mission to sea in Pianosa Island, Italy in October 2006.
The VENUS project aims at providing scientific methodologies and technological tools for the virtual exploration of deep
underwater archaeological sites. The VENUS project will improve the accessibility of underwater sites by generating thorough and
exhaustive 3D records for virtual exploration.
In this paper we focus on the underwater photogrammetric approach used to survey the archaeological site of Pianosa.
After a brief presentation of the archaeological context we shall see the calibration process in such a context. The next part of this
paper is dedicated to the survey: it is divided into two parts: a DTM of the site (combining acoustic bathymetry and
photogrammetry) and a specific artefact plotting dedicated to the amphorae present on the site.
* Corresponding author. This is useful to know for communication with the appropriate person in cases with more than one author.
** http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/digicult/venus.htm or the project web site : http://www.venus-project.eu
1. VENUS, VIRTUAL EXPLORATION OF
UNDERWATER SITES
The VENUS project is funded by European Commission,
Information Society Technologies (IST) programme of the 6th
FP for RTD
**
. It aims at providing scientific methodologies and
technological tools for the virtual exploration of deep
underwater archaeological sites. (Chapman et alii, 2006).
Underwater archaeological sites, for example shipwrecks, offer
extraordinary opportunities for archaeologists due to factors
such as darkness, low temperatures and a low oxygen rate
which are favourable to preservation. On the other hand, these
sites can not be experienced first hand and today are
continuously jeopardised by activities such as deep trawling
that destroy their surface layer.
The VENUS project will improve the accessibility of
underwater sites by generating thorough and exhaustive 3D
records for virtual exploration.
The project team plans to survey shipwrecks at various depths
and to explore advanced methods and techniques of data
acquisition through autonomous or remotely operated
unmanned vehicles with innovative sonar and photogrammetry
equipment. Research will also cover aspects such as data
processing and storage, plotting of archaeological artefacts and
information system management. This work will result in a
series of best practices and procedures for collecting and storing
data.
Further, VENUS will develop virtual reality and augmented
reality tools for the visualisation of an immersive interaction
with a digital model of an underwater site. The model will be
made accessible online, both as an example of digital
preservation and for demonstrating new facilities of exploration
in a safe, cost-effective and pedagogical environment. The
virtual underwater site will provide archaeologists with an
improved insight into the data and the general public with
simulated dives to the site.
The VENUS consortium, composed of eleven partners, is
pooling expertise in various disciplines: archaeology and
underwater exploration, knowledge representation and
photogrammetry, virtual reality and digital data preservation.
This paper focuses on the first experimentation in Pianosa
Island, Tuscany, Italy.
The document is structured as follows. A short description of
the archaeological context, then the next section explains the
survey method: calibration, collecting photographs using ROV
and divers, photographs orientation and a particular way to
measure amphorae with photogrammetry using archaeological
knowledge. A section shows 3D results in VRML and finally
we present the future planned work.
2. THE UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SITE OF PIANOSA ISLAND
The underwater archaeological site of Pianosa, discovered in
1989 by volunteer divers (Giuseppe Adriani, Paolo Vaccari), is
located at a depth of 35 m, close to the Scoglio della Scola, in
XXI International CIPA Symposium, 01-06 October, Athens, Greece
front of the east coast of the island. The site is characterized by
the presence of about one hundred amphorae of different origin
and epoch. The various amphorae range from Dressel 1A (1st
century B.C.) to Beltran 2 B and Dressel 20 , up to African
models (3rd century A. D.) The site has been surveyed in 2001
by the Nucleo Operativo Subacqueo (MIBAC-SBAT) divers.
This survey, carried out by the SBAT, proved that the site had
remained untouched. And it was necessary to start a first test of
excavation to know the exact nature of the archaeological site:
this was one of the aims that the October 2006 underwater
mission has reached.
The remarkable depth allows diving and the site was chosen to
make survey using both robotic equipment and divers.
The experimental activity, under the supervision of the
archaeological team of MIBAC-SBAT, has been carried out by
CNRS for the photogrammetric survey, ISME with its own
ROV equipped with camera from COMEX, and its
georeferentiation and positioning system.
The site had to be cleaned before surveying, mainly because of
the presence of dead posidonia. This first operation was made in
September 2006 by SBAT including specialists from CH
conservation: Roberto Bonaiuti and Emiliano Africano.
3. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC SURVEY IN PIANOSA
Archaeological
data
Photogrammetry
Photo
3D
database
Photogrammetric
survey
Orientation
with Photomodeler
Photogrammetric
survey
Amphorae measure
Virtual reality generated from Database
A tool for ‘reading’ the site in laboratory,
revision, update …
Database and
new plotting
inconsistensy check
Data fusion
Bathymetry,
multi beam.
DTM for seabed
representation
DGPS
USBL
Theoretical model
Figure 1. Synoptic schema of surveying process
The survey is done merging several kinds of information:
bathymetry, DTM from photogrammetry, artefacts measure
with photogrammetry and theoretical model of artefact objects.
The entire survey is stored in a relational database and the
geometry is exported toward tools for Virtual Reality (see fig.
1) . This approach will allow archaeologists to see the entire
site, using immersive VR technologies, without diving. (Drap,
Durand, Provin, Long. 2005).
3.1 Two different ways for data capture
The photogrammetric survey in Pianosa is made by a set of
photographs with the right overlap (around 60%). The geometry
is very similar to the technique used in aerial photogrammetry;
the main difference is the distance to the seabed and the
immersion in water.
As we are sure that the seabed is more or less flat, we can use a
set of photographs with vertical axis to make the survey.
The photographs are taken by strips with 60% overlap for the
consecutive photographs in a strip and 20% overlap from one
strip to another. (See fig 3).
This first mission in Pianosa was an opportunity to test and
improve several ways to perform this survey. As this site is 35m
deep, we can use both a survey with divers (CNRS partner), and
start a survey by ROV, managed by ISME.
The diver has a Nikon™ D70 digital camera with a 14 mm lens
from Sigma™ and two flashes Subtronic™. The digital camera
was embedded in a Subal™ housing with a hemispherical glass.
COMEX brought its digital camera equipped for connection to
the ROV: a Nikon DH2, a 14 mm lens from Sigma™ and two
flashes Nikon™, SB800. The housing and connector was made
by COMEX with a flat glass. (See fig.2)
A zone to be surveyed has been determined by the team and
equipped with 4 scale bar (2m) and a set of 15 makers (cement
block 15x15x10cm) in order to define a network for a better
ROV guidance.
Figure 2. On the top left: the digital camera and its housing
used by the diver, on the top right: the digital
mounted on the housing back of the ROV, on the
bottom the ROV in water with digital camera and
flashes in their housing. (photo by R. Graille,
CNRS)
3.2 ROV Remotely Operated Vehicle
In this mission ISME (LabMACS, Università Politecnica delle
Marche - Ancona) has used the ROV unit Phantom S2. This
ROV is an improved commercial ROV produced originally by
Deep Oceans; it is a small class ROV DOE Phantom S2 with
operating depth of 300 m. It is equipped with four thrusters
(two horizontal main thrusters and two vertran ones) that
actuate four degrees of freedom (surge, sway, heave and yaw):
the onboard sensory system consists of a 3CCD camera, a deep
meter, a compass and an inertial measuring unit (IMU) that
evaluates linear accelerations and angular velocities along and
around three axis. (Conte et Alii., 2004)
Mission tasks have also required the use and the integration in
the control architecture of three sensor systems: a SONAR
property of LabMACS, a rent SCOUT USBL and a Digital
Photo Camera property of COMEX. The sonar heads is a MS
1000 produced by Kongsberg-Symrad and produces a pencil
beam of conic shape, whose main lobe width is 2.7°. The
second acoustic device used was the SCOUT USBL of
XXI International CIPA Symposium, 01-06 October, Athens, Greece
Sonardyne and is equipped for ROV position tracking during
the mission. Finally in order to guarantee an acquisition of high
definition optical image, the COMEX camera a Nikon D2Hs
with a sensor of 4.26 million total pixels was integrated in the
ROV system. (Conte et Alii., 2007)
The ROV has made a survey on the zone delimited by the
markers. The pilot use a video camera located on the bow. He
can see the markers and pilots in order to make strips. The
photographs were taken in two modes:
- Manually, an operator, looking thought the lens by a small
video camera to shoot the image.
- With a fixed frequency, decided according to the ROV
speed and altitude.
Figure 3. Two photographs from a strip made by the ROV.
3.3 Multimedia calibration
The camera calibration in multimedia photogrammetry is a
problem already identified since almost 50 years. (Bass G.,
1970) You can refer to Hans-Gerd Maas (Maas, 1995) to have
an overview of the state of art of this field. The problem is not
obvious, the light beam refraction through the different diopters
(water, glass, air) introduces a refraction error witch is
impossible to express as a function of the image plane
coordinates alone. (Maas Hans-Gerd 1995)
Therefore the deviation due to refraction is close to those
produced by radial distortion even if radial distortion and
refraction are two physical phenomena of different nature.
For this reason we start to use standard photogrammetric
calibration software and make a calibration of the set housing +
digital camera. The distortion corrects in a large part the
refraction perturbation. This was also shown by Kwon (Kwon,
1998) (Kwon & Lindley, 2000).
But this approach is strongly dependent of the ultimate dioptr
water/glass of the housing. To try to minimize the refraction
error we can found on the market some housing with a
hemispherical glass, which is the case of Subal™ housing used
with the diver. For the other one, made by COMEX the glass
was plate and the refraction action is much more important.
We shall work on a method to compense separately refraction
and distortion; this will be done in a future work.
For the moment and in order to validate the photogrammetric
campaign, we have made the calibration using Photomodeler™
for the two housings.
3.4 The reference system
The choice of a reference system to express the measured data
is very important. It’s depending of the archaeological needs.
Several cases can occur:
- We don’t have any way to get an absolute position, or we
don’t need it. In this case we have to define the reference
system on local, observable geometry. For example
something which defines the axis of symmetry of the wreck
(if there is one); buoys to define the vertical axis; scale bar.
- We need an absolute orientation and we have several ways to
obtain it. For example a pipe line as DGPS – USBL can
give an approximation of the ROV position, etc…
In Pianosa we will use an absolute reference given in two
modes: when it will be possible ISME will associate for each
photographs coming from the ROV six parameters as: x, y, z,
Omega, Phi, Kappa. In the same time they will measure the
absolute coordinates of a set of markers seen on the
photographs and used as control points.
Figure 4. Marker on the seabed.
3.5 Orientation phase
More than three hundred photographs have been taken by the
diver. They cover an area of 20 x 20 meters. The orientation
was done manually using Photomodeler™.
The photographs orientation was done using points on the
seabed, except on the amphorae in order to be used to define a
DTM on the seabed. The oriented photographs and the diver’s
trajectory are visible in figure 5.
Five markers, visible in figure 4, were used as control points.
The adaptation on these points was done outside of
Photomodeler™ and the residuals are visible on the table
below.
n x y z residual
1 297.052 112.981 -32.646 0.325
15 306.267 106.718 -32.685 0.254
5 306.757 111.633 -32.904 0.114
11 396.511 108.064 -32.438 0.400
Table 1. Residuals after adaptation photogrammetry onto
acoustic survey. (The coordinate are translated for
site protection reason)
Figure 5. Oriented photographs visualised in VRML with the
non textured seabed.
XXI International CIPA Symposium, 01-06 October, Athens, Greece
3.6 Amphorae plotting
Using the oriented photographw a plotting phase, driven by
archaeological knowledge is processed to obtain both 3D model
representing the amphorae and a database managing all the data
of the project .
3.6.1 A method for measuring amphorae, After the
orientation phase we shall, in the next months, start the
amphorae plotting phase. This second step will use
archaeological knowledge to obtain a complete representation
of the measured artefact; it will be articulated in three steps:
1) Development of the theoretical model: for each identified
object, a geometrical description offers a whole of geometrical
primitives, which are the only objects to be potentially
measured, and a theoretical representation of the object. In our
case archaeologists have identified six amphora typologyies and
we shall produce a theoretical model for each of them. This
theoretical model is formalized in a hybrid way, taxonomy of
archaeological artefacts and an XML representation for the
Amphorae typology.
2) As photogrammetric measurements are highly incomplete
(the object is seen only partially or may be deteriorated), an
Expert System will determine the best strategy to inform
provide all the geometrical parameters of the studied object,
starting from the measurement process and handling the default
data as defined in the archaeological model and the geometrical
model. The expert System used is Jess.
(http://herzberg.ca.sandia.gov/jess/)
3) The resulting object is thus based on a theoretical model,
dimensioned more or less partially by a photogrammetric
measurement. During the exploitation of the photographs the
operator can choose the number of attributes of the object
which are relevant to measure. The choice of attributes will be
revisable in time, as for example during a second serie of
measurements. The system can be used to position in space
some objects from a catalogue after a scaling process.
All these development are done in Java and connected to the
Arpenteur photogrammetric toolbox. (Drap et alii. 2003), (Drap,
Long, 2005), (Drap, Long, 2006).
3.6.2 Measuring paradigm amphorae In order to use the
method describe above, the archaeologists have taken up six
amphorae from the site. These amphorae will be used as
paradigm to define the theoretical model needed. The first step
is to measure the amphorae and to define a geometrical model.
Some amphorae have been designed in a traditional way at
scale 1:1, for some others as for example the type gauloise 3 we
used the typology presented by our partner ADS Archaeological
Data Service, University of York, UK.
(http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/amphora_ahrb_2005/de
tails.cfm?id=135)
Figure 6. Direct measuring at scale 1:1 of amphorae. On the
left side archeologist is measuring the amphora ; on
the right a design produced at scale 1:1
3.6.3 A database to manage photographs and artifacts
After the orientation phase done with Photomodeler™ all the
oriented photographs are stored in the database with all the
associated computed parameters. The archaeological plotting
phase is done with a specific photogrammetric module, using
only two images. (See a snapshot of the interface in fig 7
below).
Figure 7. Choosing 2 photographs from the database and
building a photogrammetric model on the fly.
At this stage the accuracy is sufficient with a measure done
with two images and the interface is simpler to manage. The
user has to choose two photographs, already measured
amphorae are displayed and Arpenteur will generate a
correspondent photogrammetric model on the fly. The
application will connect to the database over the Internet to
display thumbnails and to load photographs and already plotted
amphorae.
In addition of the photogrammetric data all the data concerning
archaeological items are stored in the database. These data are
defined in the theoretical model (defined in section 3.6.1) they
contain all photogrammetric data and all the archaeological
data needed by archaeologists.
A direct link to the Database Php interface is available by
picking the displayed amphorae in the VRML generated file.
3.6.4 The plotting interface The diversity of the objects
handled by the archaeologists and the geometric complexity of
their surfaces led us to search for stable morphological
characteristics of the objects where diagnostic measurements
could be taken. A series of simple geometric primitives are used
to approximate these morphological characteristics and are used
as an interface between the photogrammetric measurement and
the underlying model.
In the case of amphorae we define four measurable zones, rims,
handle, belly, bottom, and we use a set of geometrical
primitives computed by least square method onto the measured
points. For example a circle on the rim or belly points, a line on
bottom point and center of these two circles.
XXI International CIPA Symposium, 01-06 October, Athens, Greece
Figure 8. Plotting amphorae according to the theoretical model.
This interface (fig 8) allows the user (generally an
archaeologist) to
- Recognize the amphora type on the photographs,
- Choose the amphora type in the interface combo box
(The site was already studied in collaboration with
archaeologists to define the typology),
- Measure a set of points on the zone where measure is
allowed,
- Add archaeological comments and observations,
- Compute the object, using the measured points to
construct a new instance of amphorae,
- Insure consistency between observations and
theoretical model,
- Store this new instance in the remote database.
4. MERGING RESULTS
We have merged the data coming from the bathymetry mission,
conducted by Geosystem Parma, Italy, the photogrammetric
campaign ie, a survey of the seabed at large scale with a good
quality texture and a survey, driven by archaeological
knowledge of all the amphorae and fragments of the site with a
direct link from the Amphorae representation to the database.
(see fig 9 to 11).
All these data now are stored in a relational database (MySql)
and a set of java tools allows to wrap objects from the database
and to produce a VRML representation.
The VRML file produced contains a link for every amphora to
the database via a PhP interface. This interface allows the user
to see, check and modify the archaeological values regarding
the amphorae. Of course the user has access to all the data, i.e.
measuring points, photos and photo orientation used to measure
the artefact, but these data are read only through this interface.
At this stage we use another tool to check inconstancy in the
site: an extension of the arpenteur project: Ametist, for
Arpenteur ManagEment Tool for Interactive Survey Treatment.
This is a new part of the project which provides an easy to use
system of survey management. The application can perform
various post-processing on data issued from Arpenteur’s
interface. Operations can be data verification, merging different
data sources or export data in various formats (such as XML,
VRML ...). (Seinturier J., Drap P., & Papini O. 2006)
Figure 9. Bathymetry (without texturing) and 20x20m zone
surveyed by photogrammetry.
Figure 10. The 20x20m surveyed by photogrammetry. The
VRML file representing seabed and amphorae is
generated automatically by interpretation of data
from the database.
Figure 11. VRML representation of reconstructed amphorae.
Also visible the measured points on amphorae, a
marker and two scale bars. The seabed is textured
using the oriented photographs.
XXI International CIPA Symposium, 01-06 October, Athens, Greece
5. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
Archaeologists need to explore and make an inventory of deep
wreck sites unreachable by divers as these sites may be
jeopardized by deep trawling in the very next few years . The
digital preservation aspect is one of the main goals of this
project.
We have presented here the underwater survey process from
taking photographs to the site reconstruction, merging acoustic
and optical data, and a theoretical model based on
archaeological knowledge for amphorae. In the framework of
the VENUS project a work is in progress to define ontologies
for underwater archaeology and more precisely for amphorae
present on the site. (Jeansoulin R., Papini O., 2007)
The measured object are stored in a database and wrapped in
Java Objects able to generate their morphology in VRML.
In addition of the site survey presented here we plan to immerse
archaeologists inside a virtual universe depicting a
reconstructed archaeological site, for example a shipwreck, and
allow them to work on this site as naturally as possible. The
digital model generated by the survey will then be used, with
the help of virtual reality and mixed reality, for constructing
immersive, virtual environments that enable archaeologists and
general public to experience an accurate and fully immersive
visualization of the site.
REFERENCES
References from Journals:
Drap P., Long L., 2005, Photogrammétrie et archéologie sous-
marine profonde. Le cas de l’épave étrusque Grand Ribaud F ,
Revue XYZ • (N°103, part 1 et N° 104, part 2) – 2e trimestre
2005
References from Books:
Bass G., 1970, Archaeology under Water, a Pelican; Penguin
Books, Harmondsworth, ISBN-10: 0-14-021219-1
Drap P., & Long L,. (2006). “Fotogrammetria subacquea e
Sistema Esperto, Il caso del relito etrusco Grand Ribaud F.” In
Disegno e conoscenza, contributi per la storia e l'architettura.
Vol.: Collana di Studi e Ricerche sul Disegno dell'Architettura e
dell'Ambiante, pp. 61-75, Eccigraphica S.r.l., Roma(Pub.),
isbn/issn:88-7999-0389-8.
References from Other Literature:
Chapman P., Conte G., Drap P., Gambogi P., Gauch F., Hanke
K., Long L., Loureiro V., Papini O., Pascoal A., Richards J., &
Roussel D.. (2006, October 30 – November 4). VENUS, Virtual
ExploratioN of Underwater Sites. Paper presented at the Joint
event CIPA/VAST/EG/Euromed 2006, Nicosia, Cyprus. pp.86-
93, Archaeolingua, Budapest, Hungary(Pub.), isbn/issn:963
8046 73 2.
Conte, G, Zanoli, S.M., Scaradozzi, D. and Maiolatesi, S.,
2004. ROV Positioning by Visual Feedback. In: The Conf.
"Recent advances in underwater detection and survey
techniques to underwater archaeology", Bodrum, Turkey.
Conte G., Zanoli S., Scaradozzi D., Gambella L., Caiti A., 2007
Data gathering in underwater archaeology by means of a
remotely operated vehicle, Paper presented at XXI
th
CIPA
International Symposium, 01-06 October 2007, Athens, Greece.
Drap P., Seinturier J., Long L. (2003, 14 - 15 mai).
Archaeological 3D Modelling using digital photogrammetry
and Expert System. The case study of Etruscan amphorae.
Paper presented at the The Sixth International Conference on
Computer Graphics and Artificial Intelligence, Limoges,
France. pp.177-188.
Drap P, Durand A, Provin R, Long L. (2005). Virtual Reality in
underwater archaeology: First results on the case study
“L’Anse des Catalans”, Marseille Paper presented at the
VSMM2005 Eleventh International Conference on Virtual
System and Multimedia, Ghent, Belgique.
Jeansoulin R., Papini O., 2007 Underwater archaeological
knowledge analysis and representation in the venus project : a
preliminary draft, Paper presented at XXI CIPA International
Symposium, 01-06 October 2007, Athens, Greece.
Kwon Young-Hoo, & Lindley Steven (2000). Applicability of 4
Localized-calibration Methods in Underwater Motion Analysis.
XVIII International Symposium on Biomechanics in Sports.
Maas Hans-Gerd (1995). New developments in Multimedia
Photogrammetry. Paper presented at the Optical 3-D
Measurement Techniques III. A. Grün, H. Kahmen (Ed.),
Wichmann Verlag, Karlsruhe (Pub.).
Seinturier J., Drap P., & Papini O. (2006, june). A reversible
framework bases merging. Paper presented at the Proceedings
of the 11th workshop on Non Monotonic Reasoning (NMR-06),
Windermere, England. pp.490-496.
References from websites:
Kwon Young-Hoo (1998). Refraction at the Water-Air
Interface. Available: http://kwon3d.com/theory/dlt/refr.html.
(Accessed 27 May. 2007)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Venus sea trial operations in Pianosa have been made
possible thanks to the voluntary support of a number of
different Institutions. In particular, the Italian Ministery of
Internal Affairs – Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco –
Direzione Regionale Vigili del Fuoco della Toscana – Nuclei
Sommozzatori (Diving team of the Tuscany Fire Brigade) has
made available the ship and diving teams for assistance in all
the stages of the activities. The Italian Ministeries of Justice
(Casa di reclusione di Porto Azzurro, Polizia Penitenziaria), of
Transportation and Navigation, of the Environment (Parco
Nazionale Arcipelago Toscano) have given the necessary
permits and the required logistic assistance. The Cooperativa
Ormeggiatori Piombino, Studio Archeologico Thetys and
Geosystem Parma have contributed in the data gathering
process and with diving assistance.
The authors want to thank Roland Graille, CNRS COM, who
made the photographs for the photogrammetric survey and
general documentation.
VENUS is partially supported by the European Community
under project VENUS (Contract IST-034924) of the
"Information Society Technologies (IST) programme of the 6th
FP for RTD".
The authors are solely responsible for the content of this paper.
It does not represent the opinion of the European Community,
and the European Community is not responsible for any use that
might be made of data appearing therein.
XXI International CIPA Symposium, 01-06 October, Athens, Greece
