Balancing Scales: Documenting a 17th Century Adobe Structure for its Holistic Assessment and Conservation using Multiple Scales of Level of Detail

Abstract. Level of Detail is a critical parameter of cultural heritage documentation work, which describes the amount of information presented at a given geometrical scale of representation. Within the parameter of LOD, precision, completeness and accuracy constraints are used to control the quality of the recorded data. These parameters are therefore key constraints throughout the planning, acquisition, and processing workflow for documenting a cultural heritage site. These were the key concerns during the documentation of the Church of Santo Tomás de Aquino in Rondocan, Perú. This project was conducted through collaboration between the Carleton Immersive Media Studio, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura de Cusco, local branch of the Ministerio de Cultura de Perú in 2024, with the objective of producing a comprehensive set of digital assets for the conservation of the site. By controlling the precision, completeness and accuracy of data throughout the surveying process, involving geodetic surveying, laser scanning, and photogrammetry, a high baseline of the quality of the data was maintained throughout the project, and from there an appropriate Level of Detail was possible for each digital asset, including a solid model for structural analysis, ortho-corrected images, and architectural drawings.