UP4DREAM - UAV Photogrammetry for Developing Resilience and Educational Activities in Malawi
Co-Investigator in the ISPRS Educational and Capacity Building Initiative
UAV Photogrammetry for Developing Resilience and Educational Activities in Malawi is a cooperative project between the Polytechnic University of Turin (PI) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Malawi (Co-Is), with the support of local Universities (Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mzuzu University) and Agisoft LLC (for the use of their photogrammetry and computer vision software suite). Malawi is a flood-prone landlocked country constantly facing natural and health challenges, which prevent from sustainable socio-economic development of the country. Frequent naturals shocks leave vulnerable communities food-insecure. UNICEF Malawi, in partnership with the Government of Malawi, was the first UNICEF office in the world to establish a segregated air space, which would serve as a sandbox for drone manufacturers, service companies, academia and other entities to test their drones in a real-life humanitarian and development cooperation context. The UP4DREAM project focuses on one of the key priorities of drone project in Malawi (Imagery), and has the ambitious aim of starting a capacity building initiative, in order to become one of the biggest mapping mission in developing countries, focusing on the realization and management of cartography at a big scale and high level of detail (using GIS - Geographic Information Systems) and on the generation of 3D products based on the UAV-acquired data. The principal aim of UP4DREAM is to ensure that local institutions, universities, researchers, and service companies and manufacturers operating in the drone corridor will have the right knowledge and understanding of the photogrammetry and spatial information best practices, in order to perform big-scale aerial data acquisition, processing, share and manage in the most efficient, cost-effective and scientifically-rigorous way.
Image-processing experimentation of shipwrecks datasets in Biscayne National Park
Collaboration with the Submerged Resource Center of the US National Park Service and the University of California San Diego
One of the final aims of this work is to provide an image enhancement method functional to the virtualization and visualization of the generated products (both point clouds and textured meshes) that can be used in online repositories and/or for VR and AR tours, providing a sustainable, affordable, and reliable way of studying submerged artefacts and sites.
UnderwaterMuse - Interreg Italy-Croatia project
Involvement for the valorization, promotion and fruition of the underwater archaeological heritage in the Adriatic Sea
Sustained UAV Operations Malawi
Member of the Steering Committe for the UK Department For International Development - DFID
The purpose of the Steering Group is to provide expert advice on the ‘Sustained UAV Operations Malawi’ pilot on the Frontier Technology Livestreaming programme. Feedback will be fed directly into the scope of work of the pilot via the sprint plans, the reporting tool used on the FTL programme, as well as in the UAV technology partner selection process.
The Complete Geophysical Survey of the Valley of the Kings
Involvement for the realization of multi-sensor and multi scale 3D models of The Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt.
In October 2018, a team of geomatics and geophysics researchers coordinated by the Polytechnic University of Turin worked side by side in the VOK. Topographic measurements in support of geophysical surveys and the achievement of a very large-scale 3D map of the Eastern VOK were the two main objectives of the geomatics campaign. Innovative 3D metric technologies and methods, based on terrestrial laser scanning (both static and mobile) and close-range photogrammetry were employed by the Geomatics team. The geophysical campaign focused on the acquisition of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and high spatial density Geomagnetic (GM) data. ERT new data around KV62, both inverted in 2D sections and added to the previous ones to perform a new global 3D inversion, confirm the previous results showing both conductive and resistive anomalies that have to be explained. GPR timeslices showed some interesting features in the area in front of the KV2 entrance where GM gradient map also presents localized anomalies. In the area SSW of the KV2 the GM gradient maps evidenced also a large semicircular anomaly which, up to now, has no explanation. The potentialities of using magnetic techniques as a complement to other non-invasive techniques in the search for structures of archeological significance have been explored. The application of modern and innovative methods of 3D metric survey enabled to achieve a complete 3D mapping of what is currently visible in the valley. The integration of 2D/3D mapping data concerning visible elements and hypothetical anomalies, together with the recovering in the same global reference system of underground documentation pertaining to the Theban Mapping Project, prefigure the enhancement of multi-temporal site representation. This strategy enables the fruition development of the already discovered archaeological heritage, using modern criteria of valorization and conservation.
GEMINI - Graphically Enhanced MicMac's New Interface
Collaboration with IGN (French National Geographic Institute) and ENSG (French national school for geographic sciences) for the realization of a GUI for the free and open-source photogrammetry suite MicMac
GEMINI is the new Graphical User Interface for MICMAC. Developed by Alessio Calantropio of Politecnico di Torino under the GAMHer Italian Research Project.