How can Earth observation help protect and preserve the world‘s cultural heritage? Remote sensing specialists and experts in the preservation of historic sites addressed themselves to this question at a “Summer School on Cultural Heritage” held from July 3 to 6 at DLR’s Earth Observation Center (EOC) in Oberpfaffenhofen.
International participants of the "Summer School on cultural heritage" at the EOC in Oberpfaffenhofen
DLR experts gave participants from five European countries an impression of the latest remote sensing data and methodologies. In turn, the participants from research institutions and public authorities, in most cases experts in the preservation of historic buildings and monuments, described the current challenges they face.
In the course of this exchange, one of the options demonstrated and discussed was the potential of high temporal resolution multi-sensor Earth observation, as available through Europe’s Copernicus Programme, and whether the related data and products could serve as a basis for a customized, operational Copernicus service.
The Summer School is a component of a European programme to support the utilisation of Copernicus data (Framework Partnership Agreement on Copernicus User Uptake; FPCUP). The space agency at DLR was given overall responsibility and coordinates over 160 activities throughout Europe. The “Summer School on Cultural Heritage” in Oberpfaffenhofen is one of three gatherings addressing this subject. A Summer School has already taken place in Rome at the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, ISPRA. The third is scheduled for September at the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence in Limassol, Cyprus.
Ground motion map of Venice obtained from TerraSAR-X data using satellite-based persistent scatterer interferometry. Colors indicate local movements, e.g., 5 mm/year subsidence on Cemetery Island. As of ca. 2014; C. Minet et al.