Investigating the utilization of iPhone lidar sensor in documenting cultural heritage

Abstract

Historical artifacts and archaeological remains are critical documents that contribute to our understanding of a society's history, culture, and lifestyle. Historical artifacts can be damaged for various reasons. Damages hinder the sustainable preservation of the artwork by complicating the understanding of culture and art. Therefore, documenting the current state of historical artifacts and recording their features helps minimize damage. There are various methods for documenting historical heritage, one of which is photogrammetry, an image-based technique that obtains three-dimensional data by combining two-dimensional images taken from different angles., Another technique that can be employed in the documentation process is Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR).  A Lidar device sends out brief pulses of laser beams to its surroundings. These beams collide with and bounce off objects nearby. Lidar measures distance by detecting these reflected beams. In this study, a 3D point cloud of a relief sculpture in the Kizilkoyun Necropolis was created using photogrammetry and the LIDAR sensor added to smartphones.