Application of Deep Learning Approach for the Classification of Buildings’ Degradation State in a BIM Methodology

Currently, there is extensive research focused on automatic strategies for the segmentation and classification of 3D point clouds, which can accelerate the study of a landmark and integrate it with heterogeneous data and attributes, useful to facilitate the digital management of architectural heritage data. In this work, an automated image-based survey has been exploited a Region- Based Convolutional Neural Network. The training phase has been executed providing examples of images with the anomalies to be detected. At the same time, a laser scanning process was conducted to obtain a point cloud, which acts as a reference for the BIM process. In a final step, a process of projecting information from the images onto the BIM recreates the pathology shapes on the model’s objects, which generates a decision support system for the built environment. The innovation of this research concerns the development of a workflow in which it is possible to automatize the recognition and classification of defects in historical buildings, to finally interpolate this geometric and numerical information with a BIM methodology, obtaining a representation and quantification of the information adapted to the facility management process. The use of innovative techniques such as artificial intelligence algorithms and different plug-ins becomes the main strength of this project.