Scope and topics
Natural Heritage / Natural protected areas: The conservation of natural heritage refers to the
protection, care, management and maintenance of ecosystems, habitats, wildlife species and
populations, within or outside of their natural environments, in order to safeguard the natural
conditions for their long-term permanence. Clearly in all these areas satellite remote sensing data and all associated technologies, combined with other sources of data are becoming vital tools to understand the issues related with natural
heritage / protected areas threats.
Cultural Heritage: The conservation of cultural heritage refers to the measures taken to preserve
the main values of such a cultural heritage while strengthening transmission of its significant
heritage messages and values. In the domain of cultural property, the aim of conservation is to
maintain the physical and cultural characteristics of the object to ensure that its value is not
diminished and that it will outlive our limited time span.
Ongoing monitoring of these heritage sites is therefore necessary. Clearly satellite remote
sensing data and all associated technologies, combined with other sources of geospatial data
are becoming vital tools to support cultural heritage activities.
The valuable support of Earth Observation. Current advancements in Earth Observation (EO) science and technology allow capturing data for heritage sites with an extremely convenient frequency.
The continuous evolution of satellite image resolution now allows detailed monitoring
of cultural heritage sites. A large amount of satellite data information is now freely available. The
EC Copernicus Programme provides not only free satellite images but also a series of services
and associated tools that greatly facilitate the processing of all satellite data. High-resolution
satellite images from the private sector, although they come at a certain price, are well-suited to
support heritage monitoring activities. In addition, the current emerging technology of drones with
various sensors enables the acquisition of extremely high-resolution data for heritage sites.
Many other factors have an effect on our cultural heritage and need to be monitored in order to
preserve it: natural phenomena, such as subsidence and ground motion, and anthropic ones such
as urban sprawl and climate change.
Earth Observation (EO) data, in this regard, can help by monitoring the degradation of sites, the
level of air pollution in the surrounding areas, the coastal erosion, the terrain subsidence and
ground motion, etc. or it can help in the discovery of heritage hidden below the ground’s surface
and revealing of lost landscapes. EO can also provide benefits in terms of assessing the
potential natural risks that the area hosting the cultural site might have.
Techniques to capture data for heritage are basically two types. Image-based data, supported
by photogrammetry, can obtain the corresponding point cloud and use such information to create
accurate 3D models. There are also devices that can obtain the point cloud directly (laser
scanning, LiDAR, etc.). The tools used for processing heritage data are extremely similar to the
tools used for satellite image processing and/or drone images processing. Therefore, the EO
industry, with its current expertise and know-how, has enormous potential to assist heritage
related activities.
On the other side, not all heritage authorities are aware of the enormous potential and
advantages that Earth Observation (all sensors included) can provide to heritage sites. There is
a need to create awareness among the heritage community about the benefits that EO can
provide to heritage related activities.
The field of Natural and Cultural Heritage is now entering a new phase. The key challenge is no
longer simply demonstrating that satellites can observe heritage. It is to transform increasingly
large and heterogeneous volumes of observations into reliable, actionable information that can
support heritage managers, public authorities and other decision-makers.
Artificial intelligence, automated change detection, multi-sensor data fusion, long-term time-
series analysis and emerging Earth Observation foundation models are creating new
possibilities for detecting degradation, deformation, environmental pressures and human-
induced changes at scale. At the same time, commercial Earth Observation constellations and
downstream services are creating opportunities for more targeted, high-frequency and
potentially operational monitoring.
In other words, the new tendency is to derive “intelligence” from satellite data, drones, lidar
cameras, etc. in order to support the understanding of the effects of the threats into heritage
sites, as well as, if possible, assist in the solution to remediate and/or adapt to the threats.
This raises a new set of questions for the cultural heritage community:
a) How can currently derived “Earth Intelligence” be beneficial for heritage: assessments for
regions of potential flooding; identification of areas with terrain movements; etc.
b) How can space-based observations become part of routine heritage management? Which technologies are mature enough for operational use? Where do open Copernicus data provide sufficient information and where are commercial data essential? How can satellite observations be combined with terrestrial and heritage-specific information? And what business and institutional models are needed to move from individual demonstrations to sustainable services?
The session will explore this transition from observation to action, aiming to bring together
heritage authorities, space agencies, researchers and commercial actors to discuss how the
next generation of space technologies can support preventive conservation, risk management
and the long-term protection of cultural heritage.
The proposed session
The main purpose of the proposed session is to invite papers related to the state-of-the-art of
EO for heritage in order to present their current advancements on using EO and associated
remote sensing techniques (e.g. LiDAR, UAVs, Laser scanners, etc.). Papers on the use of
geospatial information systems to support heritage related activities will also be welcome.
List of topics:
- Climate Change: Rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and marine heatwaves cause widespread coral bleaching and habitat loss.
- Invasive Alien Species: Non-native plants and animals disrupt native ecosystems, affectingroughly 30% of natural World Heritage sites.
- Pathogens and Disease: Surging wildlife diseases, such as chytridiomycosis in amphibians and avian influenza, now threaten 9% of sites.
- Human Pressures: Illegal logging, poaching, mining, and uncontrolled infrastructure development degrade boundaries and ecosystems.
- Water Hazards: Up to 73% of heritage sites face extreme exposure to water-related risks like droughts, floods, and altered water flows.
- Climate change, earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters;
- pollution,
- illegal looting,
- uncontrolled urbanization, and unchecked tourist development;
- armed conflict and war,
Organizers
Jolanda Patruno co-chair EARSeL SIG on EO for Cultural and Natural Heritage
Mario Hernandez co-chair EARSeL SIG on EO for Cultural and Natural Heritage