A 3D photo-logging system for easy and effective recording and understanding of archaeological sites

A "3D photo-logging system," a new method for recording archaeological sites, was developed. The prototype system consists of several servers running on a single machine and logging units composed of a camera phone equipped with a motion sensor attached to the mobile phone and a GPS sensor, and a notebook PC for logging the position and orientation of the camera phone. Using the 3D photo-logging system, we carried out an experimental survey of a real archaeological site, a cluster of tumuli. Two researchers recorded 14 tumuli by 142 images with 3D viewpoint information and text explanation in one day. These data were uploaded to the blog of the archaeological site in real time. Users can also access these data through distribution map which allows them to check the distribution and the direction of tumului in arbitrary map scale. Comparing to traditional recording methods, it is easier to record archaeological sites and make more accurate maps with richer information about the site. The collected data are easily organized in various forms such as blog and distribution map so that users can choose the most appropriate way to explore the data. The 3D photo-logging system is, thus, a promising method for recording archaeological sites.