RESEARCH ON THE APPLICATION OF UAV OBLIQUE PHOTOGRAMMETRY TO LILONG HOUSING: TAKING MEILAN LANE AS AN EXAMPLE

Abstract. Vernacular architecture has always captured professionals’ attention for its unique approaches to construction, its typical way of integrating man and nature and the way it is used. Being a combination of traditional courtyard houses in China with townhouses in the West, Lilong houses or Shikumen houses are representatives of Shanghai vernacular housing. In terms of applying UAV oblique photogrammetry to preserving and documenting historic architectures, some studies have been done in China, but scant literatures are found on Lilong houses. This research is an attempt to preserve and document Lilong houses by adopting UAV in 3D modelling, to explore a rational approach for the application of UAV oblique photogrammetry to narrow lanes and to establish a collection of models to document the ongoing changes as well as nuances of each building more carefully. In this research, Meilan Lane is chosen as an example. Aided by AutoCAD drawings, flight routes and angles are designed. parameters for each flight are pre-set in GoodStation to send quantified instructions to the drone. A total of 4,531 photos are gathered and 4 models are built by ContextCapture Master. Two models with flight height at 40m and 115m are generated for macro-level study and two models with flight height from 20m to 32m are for micro-level study. Through this research, this paper elaborates the pros and cons of using UAV techniques in documenting Lilong residences and tries to find an applicable approach to building other Lilong complex models for more comprehensive studies in the long run.