Abstract: Bridge condition assessment and rating provide essential information needed for bridge management. This paper reviews bridge inspection and condition rating practices and introduces a defect-based urgency index. The index is estimated at the element-level based on the extent and severity of the different defects typical to the bridge element. The urgency index approach has the following advantages: (1) It facilitates judgment submission, i.e. instead of rating the bridge element with a specific linguistic overall expression (which can be subjective and used differently by different people), the approach is based on assessing the defects; (2) It captures multiple defects that can be present within a deteriorated element; and (3) It reflects how critical the element is through quantifying critical defects and their severity. The approach can be further developed and validated. It is expected to be useful for practical purposes as an early-warning system for critical bridge elements.
Abstract: Protection and proper management of archaeological heritage are an essential process of studying and interpreting the generations present and future. Protecting the archaeological heritage is based upon multidiscipline professional collaboration. This study aims to gather data by different sources (Photogrammetry and Geographic Information System (GIS)) integrated for the purpose of documenting one the of significant archeological sites (Ahl-Alkahf, Jordan). 3D modeling deals with the actual image of the features, shapes and texture to represent reality as realistically as possible by using texture. The 3D coordinates that result of the photogrammetric adjustment procedures are used to create 3D-models of the study area. Adding Textures to the 3D-models surfaces gives a 'real world' appearance to the displayed models. GIS system combined all data, including boundary maps, indicating the location of archeological sites, transportation layer, digital elevation model and orthoimages. For realistic representation of the study area, 3D - GIS model prepared, where efficient generation, management and visualization of such special data can be achieved.