D-SITE. Drones- Systems of Information on Cultural Heritage for a spatial and social investigation

The use of UAVs is increasingly widespread in activities related to Heritage documentation. In recent years the development of methodologies of data integration, obtained through surveys that exploit drones to reach privileged observation points, has been witnessed by the numerous computation platforms, software and tools, that populate the exchange. The definition of increasingly reliable methodologies and procedures of close-range photogrammetry has produced considerable results in the survey of Architectural Heritage. Nowadays, several Universities and Research Centres, together with enterprises, are working to optimize documentation services whose goal is, in any case, the representativeness of technical data aimed at the project development. Parallel to aerial documentation, even the applications of remote-controlled terrestrial drone systems is renewing the inspection and survey practices in architecture and on territory, overtaking barriers and access dimensions to sites and contexts in emergency otherwise impractical for human operators. Surface rovers and submarine robotics, equipped with controlled cameras and implemented survey devices, in terms of stability and compartment, contribute to complete an extremely scientific and innovative field, where the central theme of robotics applied to Cultural Heritage documentation is expanded and consolidated in correspondence to the international categories of UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems), USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicles) and UUV (Unmanned Underwater Veichles). Drones, in the wider terms of their definition, are now used for documentation, management, protection, maintenance, and monitoring, integrating imaging systems and or measuring instruments that contribute to define three-dimensional databases on Cultural Heritage. This conference is promoted with the aim of collecting recent experiences on that topic and of providing a moment of reflection between academic and enterprise realities for the promotion of updated frameworks for the development of research in the architectural survey field.