DeltaQuad PRO makes 3D model of UNESCO World Heritage Site Uruk
The DeltaQuad was involved with an archaeological project where the mission was to present a large-scale and detailed 3D model of the ancient city of Uruk – a famous archaeological site and since 2016 recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The investigations, led by a team of Archaeologists from the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, were aimed at answering questions about the interaction between the urban center of Uruk and its urban environment. Specifically:
- How were urban spaces produced and maintained ?
- Where was the outer limit of the city during different periods and what was the difference between inside and outside?
- How did environmental change (natural as well as social changes) affect the development of the urban center and its suburbs ?
The team was able to answer a number of these questions by combining aerial and ground survey. They succeeded in their mission and mention that this project has only been possible due to the advancement of UAV technology and 3D software.
Map showing the site of Uruk-Warka and the coverage of the aerial survey.
Technical details of the mission:
- The 3D model covers the city and the surroundings amounting to a total surface of 40km2.
- The Survey mission was conducted at a height of 260M above sea level.
- Each flight was planned to cover approximately 75km which took around 1h 15min.
- During each flight 1200 images were taken covering 1.5km2 with 70% overlap and cross-flight.
- Overall 30,000 images were captured using the light-weight and full-frame camera Sony RX1R2. The ground resolution of the images comes down to 3cm per pixel.
- Cloudy and late-day images were adapted to the exposure of sunny day-light images and developed into high- quality Jpegs for import to 3D photogrammetry software.
An impression of the result
We thank Max Haibt from the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Germany for choosing DeltaQuad Pro for this project. For more information, please have a look at his research paper.
If you’d like to know more about this case or anything regarding the DeltaQuad PRO, you can always reach out to us!
