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Topic · Geology

3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage

3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage is a research topic within Geology. Science Explorer counts 45k research works in it since 1950. 25.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the advancements in 3D geospatial modelling techniques, including photogrammetry, UAV and terrestrial laser scanning, structure from motion, and their applications in geoscience, cultural heritage, and remote sensing. The focus is on accurate 3D reconstruction, point cloud generation, and digital preservation of natural and cultural heritage sites.

  • Photogrammetry
  • UAV
  • Terrestrial Laser Scanning
  • Structure from Motion
  • Geospatial Applications
  • Digital Heritage
  • Point Clouds
  • 3D Reconstruction
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Remote Sensing
Research works
45k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
12k
per year above
Top-10% rate
25.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+65%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage research?

By volume, China and Italy publish the most (4k and 1.2k works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 4k works
  2. 2 Italy 1.2k works
  3. 3 United States 1.1k works
  4. 4 Germany 501 works
  5. 5 Spain 469 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 421 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 379 works
  8. 8 India 325 works
  9. 9 South Korea 320 works
  10. 10 Japan 311 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 43.9%Italy: 13.5%United States: 12.4%Germany: 5.5%6 others listed: 24.6%44%largest
China3,964 · 43.9%Italy1,217 · 13.5%United States1,123 · 12.4%Germany501 · 5.5%6 others listed2,226 · 24.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Politecnico di Milano publishes the most 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage research, followed by Wuhan University and Sapienza University of Rome.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 98 works
  2. 2 Wuhan UniversityChina 95 works
  3. 3 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 79 works
  4. 4 Tongji UniversityChina 76 works
  5. 5 Tsinghua UniversityChina 72 works
  6. 6 Southeast UniversityChina 71 works
  7. 7 Politecnico di TorinoItaly 62 works
  8. 8 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 61 works
  9. 9 University of FlorenceItaly 60 works
  10. 10 Technical University of MunichGermany 57 works

Who are the leading researchers in 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage?

The most-cited researchers publishing on 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage include Xiaogang Wang, Deva Ramanan and Sebastian Thrun.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang Russia 13k citations
  2. 2 Deva Ramanan United States 11k citations
  3. 3 Sebastian Thrun United States 10k citations
  4. 4 Luc Van Gool Switzerland 8.5k citations
  5. 5 Alan Yuille United States 8.4k citations
  6. 6 Jianping Shi Hong Kong 7.7k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage research done?

The largest centres of 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Wuhan (China), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Caserta and Ferrara.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 781 works
  2. 2 Wuhan China 312 works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 306 works
  4. 4 Nanjing China 261 works
  5. 5 Xi'an China 193 works
  6. 6 Rome Italy 191 works
  7. 7 Seoul South Korea 136 works
  8. 8 Guangzhou China 136 works
  9. 9 Hangzhou China 134 works
  10. 10 Milan Italy 123 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CasertaIT · 25.9 works9.9×
  2. FerraraIT · 21.9 works8.7×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage than the world average.

See 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage on the map

Where is the best place to study 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage?

Among universities, judged by research, Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino and Polytechnic University of Bari score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 38.94%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Politecnico di Milano: 98, 32.6%Politecnico di Torino: 62, 27.3%Polytechnic University of Bari: 29, 29.5%University of Hong Kong: 36, 50.9%Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: 26, 55.2%University of the Aegean: 17, 37.1%Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 42, 45.2%Cyprus University of Technology: 12, 42.1%Southeast University: 71, 41.5%University of Florence: 60, 28.0%University of Hong K…Politecnico di MilanoPolytechnic Universi…Politecnico di Torino
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 77.232.6%10.8×98 +139.8%
2 Politecnico di TorinoItaly 72.627.3%10.4×62 +169.4%
3 Polytechnic University of BariItaly 69.029.5%18.6×29 +349.2%
4 University of Hong KongHong Kong 68.950.9%3.3×36 +173.9%
5 Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHong Kong 68.755.2%5.1×26 +93.6%
6 University of the AegeanGreece 68.237.1%14.2×17 +385.9%
7 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHong Kong 68.145.2%3.7×42 +168.6%
8 Cyprus University of TechnologyCyprus 67.842.1%16.1×12 +140.1%
9 Southeast UniversityChina 66.241.5%4.1×71 +196.1%
10 University of FlorenceItaly 65.828.0%9.0×60 +109.6%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 65% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.