A comparative assessment of structure from motion methods for archaeological research

This paper addresses the use of open source, structure from motion methods for creating 3d pointclouds from photographs and compares these with alternative workflows in other software, and relative accuracy compared to other 3D modelling methods. It describes a series of case studies that use structure from motion to record standing buildings and create digital elevation models. Looking at other recording techniques it finds that structure from motion can produce better results than traditional techniques such as plan drawing, topographic survey and photogrammetry, and is cheaper and more accessible than new techniques such as laser scanning and LiDAR, although it is less accurate in some regards. It demonstrates that good accuracy can be achieved if careful measurements are made, and concludes that it has great potential for widespread archaeological application.