The potential futures of drone recording in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 31/03/2016

Drones have already made their mark in archaeology and cultural heritage recording by providing an aerial platform for taking photographs from altitude, at their simplest allowing photographs to be taken from places that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible.

But the use of drones can open up whole new innovative recording techniques, a number of which I will be discussing. These will include the automated photogrammetric mapping of sites using a drone autopilot to provide detailed 3D models or Digital Elevation Models for GIS applications, the mapping of sites using near-infrared imaging to aid in identifying buried archaeological remains. The same technology can also provide a means to accurately record building facades with the help of open source software. All of this data can easily be processed using the potential of cloud computing.

While recently developed flight control technology together with computer vision technologies provide an innovative way to record site tours by having the drone follow the person giving the tour using cinematic style controls.

Future developments in drone technologies open up the possibility of fleets of drones autonomously navigating and recording sites on their own using different sensor packages.

With decreasing costs, increased automation and ease of use, drones may become a common tool on almost all archaeological sites autonomously recording the progress of the excavation at set intervals and providing a level of recording detail not seen before without the need of human intervention.

Daniel Joyce (University of Southampton)