Cultural Heritage Non-Invasive Investigations from the Artifact to the Landscape Scale—MATWINS Project

Dear Colleagues,

We are launching a new Special Issue of Remote Sensing to be released under the title “Cultural Heritage Non-Invasive Investigations from the Artifact to the Landscape Scale—MATWINS Project”.

The present Special Issue aims to build upon and expand the sucessful outcomes of the first and second editions of the foundational Special Issue “Remote, Proximal Sensing and Geophysics for Cultural Heritage Knowledge and Conservation”. (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/special_issues/proximal_geophysics_cultural_heritage; https://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/special_issues/23RXRDVLYY)

The use of non-invasive sensing techniques to explore the internal and superficial structures of precious fragile and delicate targets is rapidally emerging as a pivotal research domain within cultural heritage knowledge and conservation. Furthermore, the ability to infer the changes in geometrical and physical properties across inspected surfaces or volumes serves as the unifying principle enabling researchers to discover new historical sites or to image their spatial extension and material features across different scales, from landscapes to individual artifacts. A fundamental challenge in this multi-scale approach lies in balancing the depth of investigation with the spatial resolution, necessitating tailored acquisition and processing strategies for each scale.

These scientific applications of geophysical and remote sensing investigations methods have, at various times, proven istrumental in addressing the knowledge and documentation requirements throughout the full management cycle of cultural heritage assets.

Based on analogous physical principles and shared investigation goals, non-invasive diagnostics can work alone or within integrated protocols across different scales. Satellite and aerial remote sensing of exposed surfaces (and the immediate subsurface) at potential cultural heritage sites are frequently integrated with geophysical imaging of the shallowest subsurface layers to inspect and reconstruct underground/underwater features of potential interest. Over the last decades, automated high-resolution geophysical measurement systems have been developed, with applications varying according to site dimensions and logistical constraints. Recently, diagnostics have also been customized for application to small-scale targets, such as historical building elements or decorative finishes, paintings, statues or ancient papers. In several cases, micro-geophysical methods remain highly relevant to the detailed documentation of cultural sites.

Geophysical and micro-geophysical methods are also particularly valuable for assessing the conservation status and structure of precious artifacts, enabling researchers to inspect soil foundations, evaluate mechanical properties of structural elements, and investigate possible subsidence issues, seismic site effects, and dynamic structural behavior. For these topics, these methods can often be effectively integrated with remote and proximal sensing techniques, such as satellite-based or ground-based (real and synthetic aperture) radar interferometry. Significant advances are also linked to the growing integration of geomatics and image processing techniques into diagnostics and documentation protocols.

Finally, the integration of different diagnostics techniques has recently driven substatial progress in many aspects of knowledge construction and applications specifically developed for cultural heritage targets. These advances encompass data collection, processing, visualization, interpretation, data fusion, scenarios reconstruction, virtual fruition and musealization, virtual restoration, hazard reduction, preservation, and repair actions.

This Special Issue invites contributions focusing on all recent and upcoming advances in the application of remote sensing  techniques, including satellite and aerial imagery, UAV and close-range geometrical and material reconstruction, as well as geophysics/micro-geophysics for cultural heritage documentation and diagnostics. Contributions involving different methods and interdisciplinary approaches are particularly welcome, as are both theoretical theoretical studies, selected case studies demonstrating the application of knowledge of conservation issues, controlled physical models, numerical simulations, and processing advances.

In addition to the above, this Special Issue will also feature a dedicated section for cutting-edge research emerging from the “Malta TwinSpaces: AI and Digital Twins for Cultural and Environmental Heritage (MATWINS)” (https://www.um.edu.mt/finance/researchgrants/projectssearch/fundingprog/xjenzamalta-digitaltechnologiesprogramme) project.

Publisher’s notice:

As stated above, the central purpose of this Special Issue is to present research from MATWINS (Malta TwinSpaces: AI and Digital Twins for Cultural and Environmental Heritage). Given this purpose, the Guest Editors’ contribution to this Special Issue may be greater than standard Special Issues published by MDPI. Further details on MDPI's Special Issue guidelines can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/special_issues_guidelines. The Editorial Office and Editor-in-Chief of Remote Sensing has approved this and MDPI’s standard manuscript editorial processing procedure (https://www.mdpi.com/editorial_process) will be applied to all submissions. As per our standard procedure, Guest Editors are excluded from participating in the editorial process for their submission and/or for submissions from persons with whom a potential conflict of interest may exist. More details on MDPI’s Conflict of Interest policy for reviewers and editors can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/ethics#_bookmark22. 

Dr. Luca Piroddi
Dr. Nasser Abu Zeid
Dr. Sergio Vincenzo Calcina
Dr. Patrizia Capizzi
Dr. Luigi Capozzoli
Dr. Ilaria Catapano
Dr. Marilena Cozzolino
Dr. Sebastiano D’Amico
Dr. Deodato Tapete
Guest Editors

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• methods and techniques for cultural heritage knowledge, management (including risks management) and conservation
• geophysical and micro-geophysical methods, NDT and diagnostics methods
• satellite/aerial remote sensing and wide area geophysics
• optical and infrared photogrammetry, infrared thermography, and terahertz and microwave imaging
• geomatics for imaging (LiDAR, laser scanner, structure for motion, etc.)
• image and data processing, automation, and integration of methods
• satellite and terrestrial radar interferometry (RAR, SAR), radar polarimetry
• multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing (from satellite to close-range)
• remote sensing and geophysical data for virtual restoration and musealization