ALS and TLS data fusion in cultural heritage documentation and modeling

Abstract. One of the most important aspects of documenting cultural heritage sites is acquiring detailed and accurate data. A popular method of storing 3D information about historical structures is using 3D models. These models are built based on terrestrial or aerial laser scanning data. These methods are seldom used together. Historical buildings usually have a very complex design, therefore the input data, on the basis of which their 3D models are being built, must provide a high enough accuracy to model these complexities. The data processing methods used, as well as the modeling algorithms implemented, should be highly automated and universal. The main of the presented research was to analyze and compare various methods for extracting matching points. The article presents the results of combining data from ALS and TLS using reference points extracted both manually and automatically. Finally, the publication also includes an analysis of the accuracy of the data merging process.