Terrestrial photogrammetry and tablet technology in post- earthquake scenario: case study of Sant’Agostino Church in Amatrice

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the use of tablet devices for rapid close range photogrammetry in post- earthquake scenario.
In recent years, numerous natural disaster affected the Italian territory, growing the demand of secure on-field procedures able to
accomplish the task of reconnaissance, inspection and survey of instable infrastructure and cultural heritage. In fact, during the early-
impact response there are numerous first response figures, like firefighters, civil protection, geotechnical inspectors and surveyors,
that have to operate nearby damaged structure putting at risk their lives in case of possible collapses. Tridimensional digital models
and high resolution orthoimages are products that share spatial information useful for these operators. These procedures must be
rapid, easy to use and must to allow the possibility to conduct the task with a certain distance of the instable or not easily accessible
structures. A close range photogrammetry approach is considered in this paper, starting from images acquired by tablets during
speditive surveys: the case-study considered in this work is the Sant’Agostino Church in Amatrice (Italy), a cultural heritage highly
damaged by the 6.0 magnitude earthquake occurred on 24 August 2016 in the central part of Italy. The results demonstrates how
these instruments, coupled with rapid on-field procedures could be useful in post-earthquake scenarios.