Brief
Documentation of two archaeological sites near Sami, Cephalonia — the Roman balaneium (bathhouse) and fountain building at Loutró, and the architectural remains at Kríni — carried out as the 3D geometric survey within the subproject “Restoration and redevelopment of the Roman balaneium, fountain building, and architectural remains at the Loutró site, Sami, Kefalonia.” The work was executed in collaboration with the Photogrammetric Computer Vision Group (PCVG) at the University of West Attica, which contributed research-grade processing capacity and domain expertise in archaeological photogrammetry. A third nearby site was also documented in the same campaign but falls outside the scope of this write-up.
The objective was a complete geometric record of both sites usable for two parallel purposes: restoration and conservation planning by the local archaeological authority, and a public-facing digital twin that visitors and researchers could explore on the web without specialist software.
Method
A GNSS reference network (ComNav T300 Plus, RTK) anchored the survey to the national grid. Aerial coverage of both sites was captured with a DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise, while a Faro Focus terrestrial laser scanner recorded the bathhouse interior and other close-range geometry the UAV couldn’t reach safely. Images and scan data were processed photogrammetrically — orientation, alignment, and mesh reconstruction — into 3D models, orthophotographs, and digital terrain models, from which elevations and sectional views were derived for the restoration study.
Fieldwork ran 3 days with a three-person survey team, followed by 30 office days for processing, mesh cleanup, and deliverable preparation.
Reconstructed mesh wireframe of the double-arched fountain building at Kríni. Image: PCVG, University of West Attica.
Deliverables
3D meshes of both sites, orthomosaics covering every surface, and a set of sectional drawings were delivered to support the restoration and redevelopment study.
Collaboration
This project was executed in collaboration with PCVG (Photogrammetric Computer Vision Group) at the Department of Surveying & Geoinformatics Engineering, University of West Attica. pcvg.geo.uniwa.gr
Cover and wireframe imagery courtesy of PCVG, from their project page.