As part of the Field Recording Methods module, our Year 1 undergraduate students have been learning about photogrammetry and how it can complement traditional surveying techniques. With Tom Sparrow, the UG students went on a field trip to Undercliffe Cemetery in Bradford. This is a wonderful historic cemetery in the suburbs of Bradford. It contains a wide variety of monument types in terms of shape, size, materials, etc., which means there are a variety of problems associated with recording them and thus makes it an ideal testing ground for different surveying and imaging methods.
Figure 1: a screenshot of a 3D model of a section of Undercliffe Cemetery made using Reality Capture software
In recent weeks, the UG students have been learning about the theory behind photogrammetry as a tool for archaeologists. This fieldtrip gave them the opportunity to put these ideas into practice. The students were advised on the best ways of photographically recording upstanding monuments, and then had the opportunity to try out different types of digital cameras from the SAFS Visualising Heritage resource to record an area of the cemetery.
Figure 2: a screenshot of a 3D model of a memorial at Undercliffe Cemetery made using Photoscan software.
Once back in university, the students where shown how to use various photogrammetry software packages for processing the photos to turn them into digital 3D models. We were really pleased to see how well our students took to this technique of archaeological surveying and we are looking forward to more 3D models from them in the future.
Figure 3: A 3D model of a section of Undercliffe Cemetery (please click on image)