On the Integrated Use of Laser Scanning and Digital Photogrammetry Applied to an Archaeological Site

At the end of 2003 the excavations for constructing the Piazza Municipio station of a new underground line has digged out important findings of Naples ancient times whose trace could be found only in legends and old paintings; in particular, two wooden ships of II century A.D. and Augustan ruins of V century A.D. were discovered. Lackink a general cartography of the city of Naples dating back to the 1400, it has been decided to reproduce the complete map of the town centre in the light of the new findings and to compare it with the “Topographic map of the city of Naples and of his surroundings,”, created by Giovanni Carafa, Duke of Nola, and posthumously published in 1775. The main objective of our work has been the survey of a wide surface standing below the moat surrounding Maschio Angioino, the king’s castle, including a tunnel to redoubts and army magazines. This has been done by integrating the laser scanning technique with digital photogrammetry in order to obtain a model fulfilling the high precision standards required by the aesthetic quality of the site and adequate for being divulged for advertisement and scientific research.