Remote Sensing Technologies for the Conservation and Preservation of Cultural Heritage Sites

Dear Colleagues,

Remote sensing is becoming essential in the conservation and preservation of cultural heritage sites, offering powerful tools to monitor and assess risks and protect these irreplaceable assets in the long term. Technologies such as Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), hyperspectral imaging, LiDAR, and photogrammetry allow conservation professionals to detect structural vulnerabilities, monitor environmental impacts, and document historical landscapes with precision. Additionally, remote sensing technologies used in biodiversity monitoring and environmental conservation can be adapted to heritage preservation, expanding the toolkit for understanding ecosystems’ interactions with cultural sites and ensuring sustainable management practices.

As heritage sites face growing threats from environmental degradation, urban expansion, and conflict, the integration of advanced remote sensing and geospatial techniques—such as multi-spectral imaging, digital twins, and 3D modeling—into conservation planning has become increasingly important. These technologies not only enable the detection of material degradation and structural vulnerabilities, but also help in developing multidisciplinary approaches to conservation and restoration. With techniques such as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Interferometric SAR (InSAR), which assess risks related to ground motion (e.g., earthquakes, land subsidence), remote sensing now enables precise, regular assessments of heritage sites, developing sustainable, data-driven conservation strategies that enhance resilience to climate impacts and urban pressures.

We invite submissions addressing innovations in the following areas:

• Digital twins and 3D modeling for visualizing and managing cultural heritage assets;
• Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) for subsurface analysis and structural monitoring;
• Hyperspectral and multi-spectral remote sensing for analyzing materials and detecting degradation;
• Photogrammetry and geometric reconstruction for accurate heritage site documentation;
• LiDAR and laser scanning for structural analysis and conservation planning;
• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and InSAR for assessing risks from ground motion affecting heritage sites;
• Change detection techniques to monitor environmental impacts on heritage sites;
• Remote sensing applications for conservation risk assessment and sustainable site management;
• Data fusion and assimilation to integrate multiple remote sensing techniques for enhanced conservation.

This Special Issue seeks to highlight how traditional remote sensing techniques used in areas like environmental conservation, pattern recognition, and data fusion can be adapted to meet the unique challenges of cultural heritage preservation

Dr. Vicente Bayarri
Prof. Dr. Francisco García
Prof. Dr. Luis A. Ruiz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.