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This paper describes the first milestone and results of an ongoing project involving the implementation and pilot testing of an application aiming to promote cultural heritage and dissemination of information with the use of interactive small screen technology. The bespoke application was designed for deaf visitors to enable a museum experience without the support of a physical sign language interpreter. The application was pilot tested in the Pattichion Municipal Museum in Cyprus. Our findings showed high levels of user satisfaction and usefulness of the application in allowing deaf museum visitors to have an enjoyable tour, using their mobile devices as the only means of support.

A core element of the ATHENA Horizon 2020 funded project is knowledge transfer, achieved primarily through intense training activities (including virtual training courses, workshops and summer schools) with an ultimate scope to enhance the scientific profile of the research staff and to accelerate the development of research capabilities of the Eratosthenes Research Centre (ERC), placed in Cyprus. In addition, the project aims to promote Earth Observation knowledge and best practices intended for Cultural Heritage (CH). The preservation of CH and landscape is today a strategic priority not only to guarantee cultural treasure and evidences of the human past to future generations, but also to exploit them as a strategic and valuable economic asset (Masini & Soldovieri 2016). This is an extremely important key factor for the countries which are owners of an extraordinary cultural legacy, that is particularly fragile due to its specific characteristics and specific risks at which CH is continuously exposed (Brodie et al. 2001). Taking advantage of large-spatial coverage, high-spectral and sensitivity satellite remote sensing can be usefully adopted for contrasting looting. Satellite technologies offer a suitable chance to quantify and analyze this phenomenon, especially in several countries, from Southern America to Middle East (Casana 2015), where the onsite surveillance is not much effective or non-practicable due to military or political restrictions. Target training activities organized by the National Research Council (CNR, through IMAA and IBAM) are focused on the characterization of the looting phenomenon from a multi-faced prospective. These workshops are focused on the use of high spatial resolution satellite and aerial optical images as well as Lidar and geophysical data to quantitatively assess looting (Lasaponara et al 2014). An overview of methodologies and data processing for the identification and quantification of looting features (using both single date and multi temporal satellite images and object oriented classifications as in Lasaponara et al 2016) are discussed for several study areas.

This paper will examine the use of traditional photogrammetry and LIDAR for documenting cultural heritage site. The case study area was Foinikas village, in the Limassol district of Cyprus, which dates back to the 11th century and has been abandoned from 1960, following the construction of the nearby Asprokremmos dam. Traditionally, photogrammetry has been used for documentation, by processing aerial images acquired from UAVs. However, with the recent development of new lightweight LiDAR scanners, it is now possible to mount professional grade LiDAR sensors on UAVs, which can be used to document areas with high accuracy. In this study, the abandoned village of Fionikas was documented using both photogrammetry using an RGB camera and a LiDAR scanner attached to a UAV. The results of the study found that both methods used provided high accuracy in the documentation of the site. The present paper is under the auspices of the ATHENA project, which receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 691936. Work programme H2020 under “Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation”, call: H2020-TWINN-2015: Twinning (Coordination and Support Action).

This artwork is inspired by the short story "The Gold-Bug" by Edgar Alan Poe. The story follows William Legrand, his servant Jupiter and an unnamed narrator on their quest to uncover a buried treasure. Poe took advantage of the popularity of cryptography as he was writing the "The Gold-Bug" and his story revolves around the team trying to solve a cipher. The characters in the story follow a simple substitution cipher to decode a message that eventually leads them to the treasure. With this project, the aim was to re-encode the decrypted text into a digital form and turn it into a 3d tree. In order for this to be achieved, the following process was used: 1) Using Chomky's Context-Free-Grammar, the text was broken down into a syntax tree. 2) By using a simple substitution process, like the one used by Poe, the syntax tree was turned into an L-systems syntax. 3) The tree was then generated using the build-in L-Systems function in Houdini 4) Maya was used to stylize, texture and render the 3d tree.

This chapter describes the main research outcomes and achievements of 4D modelling in cultural heritage. 4D digital modelling implies the creation of precise time-varying 3D reconstructions of cultural heritage objects to capture temporal geometric variations/distortions, i.e., a spatio-temporal assessment. The key research challenge for 4D modelling, was the data collection over heterogeneous unstructured web resources. Such “in the wild” data include outliers and significant noise, since they have not been created for 3D modelling and reconstruction purposes. In addition, GPS and geo-information is limited or non-existent. However, such data allow for a massive reconstruction of the content even for monuments that have been destroyed due to natural phenomena or humans’ interventions. The key outcomes include (i) a Twitter-based 3D modelling of CH objects so as to reconstruct CH monuments and sites from unstructured image content, (ii) the development of a search engine and a (iii) recommendation system for different CH actors (curators, conservators, researchers), (iv) 3D reconstruction of the historic city of Calw in Germany, (v) the creation of a 3D virtual environment in real-time and (vi) launch of a 4D viewer enabling the easy handling of the 3D geometry plus the time. The results show the main innovation of the proposed 4D dimension, i.e., the time in precise modelling of the rich geometric content of the monuments.

PROTHEGO (PROTection of European Cultural HEritage from GeO-hazards) uses novel space technology to monitor surface deformation with mm precision to analyze the impact of geohazards in cultural heritage sites in Europe. The project includes the 395 monuments of UNESCO in Europe to monitor geo-hazards, with case studies conducted in 4 UNESCO sites in England, Spain, Italy and Cyprus. The PROTHEGO project uses long-term low-impact monitoring systems, such as UAVs and geodetic techniques, as well as InSAR data to monitor and assess the risk from natural hazards on the archaeological site to evaluate potential geo-hazards. Locale scale monitoring provides the opportunity to detect and analyze deformation phenomena for monitoring and predicting geo-hazards using field survey techniques to measure and document the extent of damage of the natural hazard on the cultural heritage site. The geodetic techniques can be used in combination with UAVs for documentation purposes and 3D modeling comparison. The aerial imagery obtained from the UAVs can be processed to create 3D model in order to document and monitor the extent of geo-hazards at the cultural heritage site. The ground based geotechnical monitoring can then be compared and validated with InSAR data to evaluate cultural heritage sites deformation trends. The PROTection of European Cultural HEritage from GeO-hazards (PROTHEGO)" project HERITAGE PLUS/0314/36 is funded in the framework of the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPICH)-HERITAGE PLUS under ERA-NET Plus and the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Commission and the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, contract KOINA/ΠΚÎ-HERITAGE PLUS/0314/36.

Proceedings Volume 9535, Third International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of the Environment (RSCy2015) .As the affordability, reliability and ease-of-use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) advances, the use of aerial surveying for cultural heritage purposes becomes a popular choice, yielding an unprecedented volume of high-resolution, geo-tagged image-sets of historical sites from above. As well, recent developments in photogrammetry technology provide a simple and cost-effective method of generating relatively accurate 3D models from 2D images. These techniques provide a set of new tools for archaeologists and cultural heritage experts to capture, store, process, share, visualise and annotate 3D models in the field. This paper focuses on the methodology used to document the cultural heritage site of Asinou Church in Cyprus using various state of the art techniques, such as UAV, photogrammetry and 3D printing. Hundreds of images of the Asinou Church were taken by a UAV with an attached high resolution, low cost camera. These photographic images were then used to create a digital 3D model and a 3D printer was used to create a physical model of the church. Such a methodology provides archaeologists and cultural heritage experts a simple and cost-effective method of generating relatively accurate 3D models from 2D images of cultural heritage sites.

1 st International Workshop on Virtual Reality, Gamification and Cultural Heritage, EuroMed 2016, 2016, Nicosia, Cyprus, 31 October - 5 November Virtual Reality (VR) application of the archaeological site of Choirokoitia has been designed and developed. The virtual reconstruction of the site simulates its current structure and is based on real data acquisition. The VR application allows the participants to virtually navigate through the archaeological site and acquire historical information for various important points of it. This study assesses the learning performance of the application’s users and their interest for the topic. Findings demonstrated a strong significant improvement in learning performance of the users with the change in their interest following a bell-shaped distribution. This indicates that the developed VR application can be used as a teaching tool for Cultural Heritage purposes.

Τα τελευταία χρόνια οι ψηφιακές βιβλιοθήκες (ψηφιακά αποθετήρια) αποτελούν την κυριότερη πλατφόρμα για τη διάδοση της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς, αλλά και τη μακροχρόνια διαφύλαξη της. Η Βιβλιοθήκη του Τεχνολογικού Πανεπιστημίου Κύπρου (http://library.cut.ac.cy ) και το Εργαστήριο Ψηφιακής Πολιτιστικής Κληρονομιάς (DHRLab www.digitalheritagelab.eu) αξιοποιώντας τις σύγχρονες δυνατότητες που προσφέρει η τεχνολογία και με την τεχνογνωσία που έχουν αναπτύξει τα τελευταία χρόνια έχουν προχωρήσει στην οργάνωση, τεκμηρίωση και διάσωση πολιτιστικών δεδομένων. Στην παρούσα εισήγηση περιγράφεται ο σχεδιασμός και η δημιουργία της ψηφιακής Βιβλιοθήκης Αψίδα και η διάθεση πολιτιστικών δεδομένων στην Europeana μέσω του Ευρωπαϊκού Προγράμματος Locloud (www.locloud.eu). Το περιεχόμενο των συλλογών συλλέγεται από διάφορους φορείς πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς και τυγχάνει επεξεργασίας από το DHRLab. Η Αψίδα καλύπτει ένα μεγάλο εύρος της πλούσιας ιστορίας της Κύπρου καθώς περιλαμβάνει υλικό από την πρώιμη εποχή του χαλκού (2000-1850 π.χ), την Κυπρο-αρχαϊκή περίοδο (750-600 π.χ), την Βυζαντινή περίοδο, την περίοδο της Αγγλοκρατίας 1878-1976, την ίδρυση της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας το 1960, την εισβολή της Τουρκιάς στην Κύπρο το 1974, και την εισδοχή της Κύπρου στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση μέχρι και σήμερα.

International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives, Volume 42, Issue 2W3, 23 February 2017, Pages 391-397 Modern advances in the field of image-based 3D reconstruction of complex architectures are valuable tools that may offer the researchers great possibilities integrating the use of such procedures in their studies. In the same way that photogrammetry was a well-known useful tool among the cultural heritage community for years, the state of the art reconstruction techniques generate complete and easy to use 3D data, thus enabling engineers, architects and other cultural heritage experts to approach their case studies in an exhaustive and efficient way. The generated data can be a valuable and accurate basis upon which further plans and studies will be drafted. These and other aspects of the use of image-based 3D data for architectural studies are to be presented and analysed in this paper, based on the experience gained from a specific case study, the Plaka Bridge. This historic structure is of particular interest, as it was recently lost due to extreme weather conditions and serves as a strong proof that preventive actions are of utmost importance in order to preserve our common past.