From Maps to 3D Models: Reconstructing the Urban Landscape of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the 16th Century

Abstract

The use of 3D visualization technologies offers a unique opportunity to reconstruct historical cities that no longer exist or have been substantially modified. In this paper, we use the oldest preserved map of the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, created in 1588 by the engineer Leonardo Torriani, as the basis for its 3D virtual recreation. This map shows the first non-fortified Spanish colonial city whose plan provided a model for the colonial cities in America. These distinct features made San Cristóbal de La Laguna a UNESCO world heritage site. In our work, we present a map-based workflow for 3D reconstruction that balances fidelity to the original map with the integration of other historical sources and the current status of the city. This leads to the development of several 3D models from those distinct sources whose integration provides the 3D reconstruction of the city in the 16th century. The results of this project can be applied to other similar maps that were created in Europe at that time.

LagunAR: A City-Scale Mobile Outdoor Augmented Reality Application for Heritage Dissemination

“…In this section, we will describe the reconstruction of the city that has been used in this project [59].…”

“…The main elements considered in the 3D reconstruction of the city were its houses, singular buildings (administrative constructions, churches, convents, and hospitals), other city elements like fountains or bridges, and its inhabitants [59]. The 3D modeling encountered many difficulties due to the limited remains of buildings at that time that had survived without major changes.…”

“…The result of this process can be seen in Figure 7, which shows a simplified 3D model of the city's landscape that can be viewed on a mobile phone. The next phase in the city's reconstruction involved modeling the elements depicted on the map [59]. This process entailed digitizing a series of 2D layers, capturing the positional and the geographical distribution of various features within the city and its surroundings, including blocks, streets, gardens, plots, the lagoon, meadows, and more.…”

“…These 2D map layers were subsequently transformed into 2D geographical coordinates using a georeferencing technique [36], aligning the digitized image of the map or aerial photo with a geographic coordinate system. By identifying a set of common reference The next phase in the city's reconstruction involved modeling the elements depicted on the map [59]. This process entailed digitizing a series of 2D layers, capturing the positional and the geographical distribution of various features within the city and its surroundings, including blocks, streets, gardens, plots, the lagoon, meadows, and more.…”

“…To optimize the models for visualization, plane colors were used in simple clothing designs and complex designs were simplified by eliminating details and using image textures. Several characters were created, including knights, monks, nobles, and people from different social strata in the city, as seen in Figure 8 [59,65].…”