This paper describes the case study of the damaged church of St. Francesco in the hamlet of Arquata del Tronto (Italy) that was struck by the earthquake in 2016. The municipality commissioned the research to support the preliminary design of the preservation plan. The first digitisation level has been started from the richness of surveying data acquired from static and dynamic terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and photogrammetry, overcoming challenging constraints due to the scaffolding covering the surfaces. The geometric survey allowed authors to acquire massively geometric and material information supporting the three-dimensional (3D) volume stratigraphic and the creation of the Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM). The paper proposes a shift from the Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis of the materials toward spatial HBIM management. Building Archaeology is turned into HBIM 3D volume stratigraphy, overcoming the bidimensional (2D) surface mapping, in favour of a 3D understanding of direct and indirect sources. Material mapping is added to HBIM 3D volume stratigraphy, and each stratigraphic unit (SU) has its proprieties. The 3D volume stratigraphic database has been designed to collect the data on the unit detection at three levels (direct sources data collection, indirect data documentation, the relation among the BIM object elements). A common data environment (CDE) has been set up to share the 3D volume informative models that can be accessed, and all the information gathered. The knowledge transfer using the eXtended reality (XR) has been devoted to the citizen and tourist fruition, enhancing the comprehension of difficult concepts like the SUs to support a better critical 3D reconstruction. It includes the phases of construction across time-lapse documentation that validates related information within the building archaeology informative models leaving spaces to the uncertainty and documenting the relationship established so far thanks to the direct and indirect sources. The result obtained is a live digital twin that can be continuously updated, which justifies the costs and time demanding of HBIM despite 2D drawings.Highlights: • 3D survey and scan-to-HBIM process for the creation of a digital twin were oriented to the preliminary design of the preservation plan of the church of St. Francesco in Arquata del Tronto (Italy). • Stratigraphy is investigated and oriented towards a digitisation process to share different levels of knowledge through new forms of digital-sharing such as Common Data Environment (CDE) and cloud-based BIM platform. • eXtended reality (XR) is the final tool to reach new levels of communication and a wider audience characterised by experts in the construction sector and virtual and non-expert tourists.

The research focuses on the generation of 3D models aimed at creating interactive virtual environments as the outcomes of scalar representations of existing realities. The purpose is to increase the narration, fruition, and dissemination of the findings that emerged from the archaeological investigations carried out in a large sector of the south-eastern suburbs of Rome. In this context, the research proposes a process oriented toward designing a virtual museum of the first group of works from the Appia Antica Archaeological Park and now exhibited at the Museo Nazionale Romano, the Antiquarium di Lucrezia Romana, and the Antiquarium di Villa Dei Quintili. Managing high historical and cultural findings through geometrical surveys, high-resolution data from 3D survey analysis, archival research, and interactive digital representation is the aim of the study. The digitisation of artefacts has made it possible to build new forms of communication that enrich virtual and on-site visits with content, both of the park and of the Museums that host the collections. In particular, it has gradually allowed a ‘virtual’ relocation of works from the Appia Park, favouring the definition of a method capable of communicating new content and laying the basis for the development of a virtual museum, a temporary exhibition, and a web platform for one of the most important historical sites of ancient Rome.

This research investigates the utilisation of the scan-to-HBIM-to-XR process and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry to improve the depiction of archaeological ruins, specifically focusing on the Claudius Anio Novus aqueduct in Tor Fiscale Park, Rome. UAV photogrammetry is vital in capturing detailed aerial imagery of the aqueduct and its surroundings. Drones with high-resolution cameras acquire precise and accurate data from multiple perspectives. Subsequently, the acquired data are processed to generate orthophotos, drawings and historic building information modelling (HBIM) of the aqueduct, contributing to the future development of a digital twin. Virtual and augmented reality (VR-AR) technology is then employed to create an immersive experience for users. By leveraging XR, individuals can virtually explore and interact with the aqueduct, providing realistic and captivating visualisation of the archaeological site. The successful application of the scan-to-HBIM-to-XR process and UAV photogrammetry demonstrates their potential to enhance the representation of building archaeology. This approach contributes to the conservation of cultural heritage, enables educational and tourism opportunities and fosters novel research avenues for the comprehension and experience of ancient structures.

The paper focuses on new opportunities of knowledge sharing, and comparison, thanks to the circulation and re-use of heritage HBIM models by means of Object Libraries within a Common Data Environment (CDE) and remotely-accessible Geospatial Virtual Hubs (GVH). HBIM requires a transparent controlled quality process in the model generation and its management to avoid misuses of such models once available in the cloud, freeing themselves from object libraries oriented to new buildings. The model concept in the BIM construction process is intended to be progressively enriched with details defined by the Level of Geometry (LOG) while crossing the different phases of development (LOD), from the pre-design to the scheduled maintenance during the long life cycle of buildings and management (LLCM). In this context, the digitization process—from the data acquisition until the informative models (scan-to-HBIM method)—requires adapting the definition of LOGs to the different phases characterizing the heritage preservation and management, reversing the new construction logic based on simple-to-complex informative models. Accordingly, a deeper understanding of the geometry and state of the art (as-found) should take into account the complexity and uniqueness of the elements composing the architectural heritage since the starting phases of the analysis, adopting coherent object modeling that can be simplified for different purposes as in the construction site and management over time. For those reasons, the study intends (i) to apply the well-known concept of scale to the object model generation, defining different Grades of Accuracy (GOA) related to the scales (ii) to start fixing sustainable roles to guarantee a free choice by the operators in the generation of object models, and (iii) to validate the model generative process with a transparent communication of indicators to describe the richness in terms of precision and accuracy of the geometric content here declined for masonry walls and vaults, and (iv) to identifies requirements for reliable Object Libraries.

One of the main objectives of today’s archaeological sites and museums is the development of research, understood as the interpretation and contextualisation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage to broaden the knowledge and accessibility of archaeological parks often unknown to visitors and the public on a large scale. In this perspective, the Appia Antica Archaeological Park aims to support research in digitising infrastructures and archaeological contexts of high historical and cultural value to plan short- and medium-term preservation and maintenance projects. In this context, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are tools with enormous potential in survey, inspection and digitisation, providing the basis for the subsequent phases of data interpretation, representation and material analysis. Thanks to the photorealistic reconstruction of dense structure from motion (DSfM) in the application of structural inspections, today it is possible to intercept the geometry and material conditions of small, medium and large structures, reducing the costs of inspections, limiting the interruption of the public and providing professionals and visitors with a better volumetric understanding of the system. However, inserting information that gradually accumulates throughout the process requires advanced 3D digital representation techniques, such as HBIM (historic building information modelling), scan-to-BIM approach and interactive forms, such as virtual and augmented reality (VR-AR). For these reasons, this study summarises the experience and lessons learned from the UAV inspection of three research case studies at archaeological, architectural, and infrastructure scales to increase awareness of the Roman-built heritage.

In recent years, many efforts have been invested in the cultural heritage digitization: surveying, modelling, diagnostic analysis and historic data collection. Nowadays, this effort is finalized in many cases towards historical building information modelling (HBIM). However, the architecture, engineering, construction and facility management (AEC-FM) domain is very fragmented and many experts operating with different data types and models are involved in HBIM projects. This prevents effective communication and sharing of the results not only among different professionals but also among different projects. Semantic web tools may significantly contribute in facilitating sharing, connection and integration of data provided in different domains and projects. The paper describes this aspect specifically focusing on managing the information and models acquired on the case of vaulted systems. Information is collected within a semantic based hub platform to perform cross correlation. Such functionality allows the reconstructing of the rich history of the construction techniques and skilled workers across Europe. To this purpose an ontology-based vaults database has been undertaken and an example of its implementation is presented. The developed ontology-based vaults database is a database that makes uses of a set of ontologies to effectively combine data and information from multiple heterogeneous sources. The defined ontologies provide a high-level schema of a data source and provides a vocabulary for user queries.