Unveiling the past with reality capture

作者：Renata BarradasGutiérrez，Josep M. Puche Fontanilles，Pau deSolà-Morales

古罗马城市塔拉科（Tarraco）是当今西班牙加泰罗尼亚地区的塔拉贡（Tarragona），是伊比利亚半岛上最古老的罗马定居点，曾经是半岛领土的首都。塔拉戈纳（Tarragona）光荣过去的建筑遗迹包括其他废墟，马戏团，剧院和圆形剧场。这个考古合奏是在2000年前建造的，自2000年以来是联合国教科文组织世界遗产的一部分。

The Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC) and the Architecture School of the URV (ETSA) joined efforts with the help of ARREL Project of the RecerCaixa program to study, preserve and transmit the cultural richness of Catalonia’s past using Leica Geosystems’ state-of-the-art laser scanning technologies and a unique mobile mapping solution - the飞马：背包。

忠实的考古学家团队熟练地将点云和HDR数字图像转变为3D CAD模型。这些技能，加上它们的深入历史和考古知识，有助于unveil and understand the secrets of this Roman city这曾经是罗马帝国其他地区的省首都的榜样。

看大局

A detailed digital 3D model is a reconstruction of reality that enables the study of a determined space.

罗马马戏团的三维数字模型是从点云获得的大型战车比赛和赛马的大型露天娱乐场所study and understand the initial state and transformationthat this heritage site has experimented during two millennia.

“The laser scanning solutions from Leica Geosystems allow us todigitally visualise and understand the complex realityof this four hectare enclosure occupied by the Roman Circus, located today in Tarragona’s old town, that represented a real challenge of Roman engineering and that is intensely altered from the actions developed since the fifth century,”ICAC高级研究员Josep M.MaciasSolé说。

The 3D models generated with the point clouds helped the team of specialists to achieve:

• Reconstruct digitally the Roman circus, and even locate the parts that escape the human eye.
• Interpret the components of the structure to test hypothesis about the circus’ capacity and the logic behind its initial construction and later buildings.
• 在几个世纪以来，破译了当地景观的发展，以确定这种罗马教育如何在中世纪和现代的城市城市地块中局限于城市地块。

Putting the pieces together with mobile reality capture

The structure that initially served as a Roman circus, suffered profound architectural changes through the years and now it is inserted and hidden under the urban landscape of Tarragona. The Roman circus, located in the city centre, has exhibition areas opened to visitors, however, the old vaults that support the stage serve today as structures to hosts bars, restaurants and even private residences.

There have been several efforts to digitise the Roman circus using a whole generation of Leica Geosystems’ laser scanners, staring with the C5, and C10, to using one of the latest laser scanning technologies - the Leica P30. ICAC and ETSA have culminated these efforts with the reality capture sensor platform that统一所有以前的扫描 -飞马：背包。

All the visible parts of the Roman circus have been documented with the laser scanners. The Pegasus:Backpack, however, made it possible tocapture every step of all the streets and facadesof the old town of Tarragona, which are inserted in the area occupied by the Roman circus. The use of this unique reality capture solution also facilitated the graphic integration of the contemporary and ancient architecture of the city into one single workflow.

“The Pegasus:Backpack offers us the great advantage of being able to cover areas that otherwise would be very cumbersome and very expensive with more traditional survey systems. With this tool we could消除大部分现场工作然后处理数据并将其与我们为整个区域的全面文档进行的其他项目拟合，”said Macias Solé.

“All this process ofcapturing data with millimetric precisionhas been extremely敏捷有效, and we always指望技术支持and continuous advice of Leica Geosystems’ experts.”

Connecting disciplines

The archaeological remains of the Roman circus are a testimony of Roman architecture and planning and provide the blueprints on how this ancient construction developed and transformed Tarragona’s history and landscape with every century.

3 d文档在塔拉的遗产gona allowed archaeologists at ICAC and architecture students at ETSA to develop:

• 历史城市研究
• Pedagogy and museography of the historical heritage
• 考古研究
• Cadastral plans and a heritage management system

Capturing reality through laser scanning opens a door where specialists from several disciplines, like archaeologists and architects, can汇聚以研究，映射，监视和节省任何建筑物或资产。As seen in Tarragona, Spain, Leica Geosystems’ solutions help professionals become more efficient and accurate on how they produce, share and evaluate information.