Tripodon Street Archaeological Documentation

Topographic Survey and 3D Documentation of the Archaeological Context of Tripodon Street, Athens

Purpose

Tripodon Street is one of Athens’ most historically concentrated thoroughfares — a narrow lane rising from the Theatre of Dionysus toward the Monument of Lysicrates, lined with the bases of ancient choregic monuments and said to be the oldest street in Athens to have kept the same name for 25 centuries. In December 2024, the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens (Ministry of Culture) commissioned Astrolabe Engineering to produce a comprehensive topographic survey and 3D documentation of archaeological remains exposed during an active excavation at 32 Tripodon Street, Plaka.

The actual scope extended across three adjacent properties and the street itself: the courtyard and ground-floor interior of 32 Tripodon str. (the primary excavation zone); a retaining wall at the neighbouring property at 28 Tripodon str.; the base of a choregic monument in the basement of 34 Tripodon str.; and the full ~200 linear metre street section from no. 28 to the Monument of Lysicrates.

The property’s historical significance does not end with antiquity. The building at 32 Tripodon Street — an early 19th-century Ottoman-era house, known locally as the house of the kadi after its reputed first resident, a Turkish judge — and its courtyard served as the principal filming location for I de gyni na fovitai ton andra («Η δε γυνή να φοβήται τον άνδρα»), released in 1965 and one of the most beloved comedies in Greek cinema history. Written and directed by Georgios Tzavellas and starring Maro Kontou and Giorgos Konstantinou, the film immortalised the building as the Kokovikou House (Οικία Κοκοβίκου) — after the family that lived there — making its courtyard and characteristic staircase instantly recognisable to Greek audiences. Sixty years later, that same courtyard is now an active archaeological excavation. The arc from ancient choregic monument base to Ottoman-era residence to mid-20th-century cinema landmark makes the challenge of responsible restoration and heritage presentation all the more layered and compelling.

The technical challenge lay in precision and integration: three distinct environments — an active archaeological excavation, enclosed historic interiors, and an open public street — had to be captured with three complementary sensor technologies, all georeferenced to a common national coordinate system (GGRS87), and delivered as a complete, unified package.

Project Tasks

Geodetic control and ground survey

A network of 96 photo-control targets was established across the site. Seven primary control points were measured by RTK GNSS. From these, a total station traverse extended coverage to the remaining 89 targets within the confined courtyard of 32 Tripodon str.

UAV photogrammetry — two flights, two scales

Aerial photogrammetry was carried out with a DJI Phantom 4 RTK in two purpose-designed flights:

• Low-altitude flight (3–5 m, manual): 502 images over the active excavation courtyard at a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 1.1 mm. 69 ground control points; mean georeferencing RMS of 1 mm. Produced a 1 mm/pixel colour orthomosaic of the excavation.
• High-altitude flight (~30 m, automated double-grid): 968 images over the wider neighbourhood, with 80% overlap in both directions at a 60° camera angle. 9 GCPs; mean georeferencing RMS of 2 mm. Produced a 1 cm/pixel orthomosaic and X-ray orthophoto of the full study area.

Both datasets were processed in Pix4Dmapper, generating a combined densified point cloud exceeding 111 million 3D points (68.5 million from the high flight; 43.4 million from the low flight).

Terrestrial static laser scanning

The courtyard, ground-floor interior, and features within 28 and 34 Tripodon str. were captured from 80 scan positions using a FARO Focus M70 scanner (±3 mm accuracy, 70 MPixel HDR colour camera). Scan registration and processing were completed in FARO Scene.

Mobile SLAM scanning

The full ~200 m street section of Tripodon Street was captured in a continuous walking scan using an FJD Trion P1 portable SLAM scanner, processed in FJD Trion Model.

Point cloud integration

All datasets — photogrammetric point clouds, static scans, and SLAM data — were unified, co-registered, and georeferenced in Gexcel Reconstructor and exported as colour Autodesk RCP/RCS files. Final vectorial floor plans were produced in AutoCAD.

Conclusion – Results

The final package of deliverables included:

• Colour georeferenced orthomosaic of the 32 Tripodon str. courtyard at 1 mm/pixel resolution.
• Vectorial floor-plan drawing at 1:50 of the courtyard and ground-floor interior of 32 Tripodon str.
• X-ray orthophoto of the full study area at 1 cm/pixel resolution, covering the ~200 m Tripodon Street section.
• Colour point cloud of the 32 Tripodon str. courtyard at 5 mm resolution.
• Unified colour point cloud of the full archaeological context area at 1 cm resolution.
• Walkthrough video through the full point cloud (MP4).
• Technical Report with Pix4D quality reports as appendices

The project was supervised on behalf of the Ephorate by archaeologists Nikolaos Petrocheilos and Tatiana Poulou.

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Archaeological sites rarely allow for leisurely documentation — the window between excavation and backfill is short, and the geometry of what is uncovered can be irreplaceable. If you are working on a cultural heritage project with similar demands, we would be glad to discuss what is possible. Contact us or explore our 3D Laser Scanning and Photogrammetry services.