Exploring the Unesco world heritage property in the shallow waters at Rose Island using unmanned surface vehicles (USV)

Abstract

Rose Island (Germany) is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site “Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps” and a pilot site of the EU funded project TRIQUETRA, which targets the risks of climate change on cultural heritage. With the lack of a detailed bathymetric map of the waters around Rose Island and in search for an efficient approach for documenting the wooden relics from Iron Age at the lake bottom, both a sonar and a photogrammetric campaign were conducted by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). From the sonar measurements, the first reliable bathymetric map of the area was generated and provided to TRIQUETRA’s decision support system and WebGIS. During the photogrammetric survey, ~15.000 high resolution images of the lake floor were taken by an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and processed to high-resolution 3D models by using the structure-from-motion method (SfM). The models provide an unprecedented level of detail for the documentation and examination of the archaeologic remains at Rose Island and a fascinating insight to the prehistoric settlement remains for the general public.