- Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica
University of Catania
Viale A. Doria 6
95125 Catania, Italy
- Filippo Stanco received the M.Sc. (summa cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of Cata... moreFilippo Stanco received the M.Sc. (summa cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of Catania, Catania, Italy, in 1999 and 2003, respectively. He is currently Full Professor at the University of Catania, Italy. His research interests include digital restoration, artifacts removal, filtering, super resolution, interpolation, and texture analysis.
He is the coordinator of the "Archeomatica Project" (www.archeomatica.unict.it).
Teaching:
IEM Interazione e Multimedia (6 CFU);
He is a Reviewer for several leading international conferences and journals:
• IEEE Transactions on Image Processing (TIP);
• IEEE Transaction on Multimedia;
• IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II (TCAS-II);
• IEEE Signal Processing Letters (SPL);
• Elsevier Image and Vision Computing Journal (IVC);
• SPIE Journal of Electronic Imaging (JEI);
• SPIE Journal of Optical Engineering (OE);
• IEE Proceedings on Vision, Image and Signal Processing;
• IET Electronic Letters;
• ICIP 2004 – 2005 – 2006 – 2007 - 2008: IEEE International Conference on Image Processing;
• EG_IT 2006: EUROGRAPHICS Italian Chapter 2006:
• EUSIPCO 2008.
Member of:
• IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers);
• AIAr Associazione Italiana Archeometria;
• GRIN Italia;
• GIRPR Gruppo Italiano Ricercatori in Pattern Recognition;
• SIMAI;
• Centro di Archeologia Creteseedit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT The microscopic description of ancient pottery is widely used for the fabric definition, classification and provenance assessment. In most cases, however, the description is qualitative. An improvement of the study of... more
ABSTRACT The microscopic description of ancient pottery is widely used for the fabric definition, classification and provenance assessment. In most cases, however, the description is qualitative. An improvement of the study of archaeological pottery needs a more objective approach with quantitative analysis. In classical scientific literature, the structural features and mineralogical composition of pottery are carried out on thin sections by means of transmitted polarized light microscope. The determination were obtained through observations with and without cross polarizator (nicols). The quantitative measurements are normally achieved with tedious and time consuming table with point counter. In this article the attention has been focused on the automatic identification of structural and textural components of the potteries through optical microscopy. Image analysis techniques have been then used to automatically classify the image components. Results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach: petrographic data collection becomes faster with respect to the traditional method providing also quantitative information useful for fabric recognition.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Finding edges in digital images is a very basic and important task. This paper describes a new technique to address this problem. The proposed technique tries to solve two of the main difficulties that edge finding algorithms must face:... more
Finding edges in digital images is a very basic and important task. This paper describes a new technique to address this problem. The proposed technique tries to solve two of the main difficulties that edge finding algorithms must face: uncertainty due to noise artifacts and combination of details detected at different scales. In particular we adapt a fuzzy arithmetic approach called “Fuzzy Marching Squares”(G. Gallo, S. Spinello,
Research Interests:
Abstract The paper describes a method for recognizing similar sub-parts of objects described by 3D polygonal meshes. The innovation of our method is the coupling of structure and geometry in the matching process. First of all, the... more
Abstract The paper describes a method for recognizing similar sub-parts of objects described by 3D polygonal meshes. The innovation of our method is the coupling of structure and geometry in the matching process. First of all, the structure of the shape is coded in a graph where each node is associated to a sub-part of the shape. Then, the matching between two shapes is approached using a graph-matching technique relying upon a geometric description of each sub-part.
" Preface Paintings, frescos, antique photographic prints, incunabulas, old books, handwritten documents, sculptures, ceramic fragments and other ancient manufacts... more
" Preface Paintings, frescos, antique photographic prints, incunabulas, old books, handwritten documents, sculptures, ceramic fragments and other ancient manufacts constitute the elements of an extremely valuable and immense historical patrimony. Their digitalization opens up the possibility to use various image processing and analysis and Computer Graphics techniques to preserve this Cultural Heritage for future generations. Digital imaging solutions can be used to generate virtually restored versions of the original ...
Research Interests:
Abstract The definition of presentation layout, based on device and user features, can be useful to provide multidevices content adaptation capabilities for hypervideos presentations. We provide a possible approach of content adaptation... more
Abstract The definition of presentation layout, based on device and user features, can be useful to provide multidevices content adaptation capabilities for hypervideos presentations. We provide a possible approach of content adaptation through different devices using MPEG-4 as presentation framework. In particular, we focus on the use of adaptable interfaces in hypervideos presentations, separating layout information from media data.
Riassunto Sin duda, la arqueología urbana representa el sector más problemático de la investigación arqueológica, puesto que hay muchos problemas con la conservación y salvaguardia de la excavación. Un ejemplo muy significativo está... more
Riassunto Sin duda, la arqueología urbana representa el sector más problemático de la investigación arqueológica, puesto que hay muchos problemas con la conservación y salvaguardia de la excavación. Un ejemplo muy significativo está representando por la excavación efectuada por la Sobreintendencia para los Bienes culturales de Catania en la iglesia de “Sant'Agata al carcere” en el centro histórico de la ciudad.
Abstract An important feature of the Minoan culture is the pottery of Kamares style, which documents the Cretan cultural production between the first half of the 2 nd millennium BC. This high level painted production, characterized by the... more
Abstract An important feature of the Minoan culture is the pottery of Kamares style, which documents the Cretan cultural production between the first half of the 2 nd millennium BC. This high level painted production, characterized by the combination of several diverse motifs, presents an enormous decorative repertoire. The extraordinary variety of combinations between elementary motifs according to a complex visual syntax makes interesting the automatic identification of the motifs, particularly upon potsherds.
Resumen El busto colosal del dios Asclepio, que estaba antiguamente colocado en el interior del Castello Maniace durante la dominación española en Sicilia, es ahora uno de los ejemplos más significativos de estatuas romanas del museo de... more
Resumen El busto colosal del dios Asclepio, que estaba antiguamente colocado en el interior del Castello Maniace durante la dominación española en Sicilia, es ahora uno de los ejemplos más significativos de estatuas romanas del museo de Siracusa. La reciente restauración del Castello Maniace ha sido celebrada en el 2008 con una gran muestra de los objetos encontrados durante las excavaciones en el castillo.
Abstract The ABSTRACT is to be in fully-justified italicized text, between two horizontal lines, in one-column format, below the author and affiliation information. Use the word “Abstract” as the title, in 9-point Times, boldface type,... more
Abstract The ABSTRACT is to be in fully-justified italicized text, between two horizontal lines, in one-column format, below the author and affiliation information. Use the word “Abstract” as the title, in 9-point Times, boldface type, leftaligned to the text, initially capitalized. The abstract is to be in 9-point, single-spaced type. The abstract may be up to 3 inches (7.62 cm) long.
Abstract The 3D model reconstruction of buildings from uncalibrated photographs allows new useful Computer Graphics and Computer Vision applications. In this paper we survey some solutions proposed in literature and in commerce. The... more
Abstract The 3D model reconstruction of buildings from uncalibrated photographs allows new useful Computer Graphics and Computer Vision applications. In this paper we survey some solutions proposed in literature and in commerce. The common and different methodology are reported and described. Finally we try to address the 3D reconstruction problem of architectural scenes presenting our solution: BolBol.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Digital Archaeology, Virtual Archaeology, Greek Archaeology, Digital Heritage, 3D Modelling (Architecture), and 5 moreGreek Sicily, Greek Architecture, Greek Sculpture, Archeologia Siciliana, and Archaeology, Classical archaeology, Greek and Roman history, Greek Colonization (Magna Graecia and Sicily), Material Culture Studies, Funerary Archaeology
A main issue in the archaeological research is the identification of colored surfaces and soils through the application of Munsell system. This method widely used in other fields, like geology and anthropology, is based on the... more
A main issue in the archaeological research is the identification of colored surfaces and
soils through the application of Munsell system. This method widely used in other fields,
like geology and anthropology, is based on the subjective matching between the real color
and its standardized version on Munsell Charts. It is common knowledge that
environmental light conditions, cultural background, color sensibility and education can
condition the result misleading the identification. However few statistical studies quantify
this phenomenon. The interest toward color specification in different fields gave rise to a
multidisciplinary articulate study that involves archaeologists, computer scientists and
physicists to set the target of a unique reference system. In this paper a semi-automatic
method of color detection on selected regions of digital images of ancient pottery is
presented. This tool, whose encouraging experimental results are widely discussed in this
contribute, is aimed to prevent eventual subjective errors during color identification and to
speed up the process of identification itself. The starting point of the experiment was to
take digital pictures of group of potsherds - whose surface color was identified by a group
of archaeologists taken as statistic sample of interviewees - together with the Gretag-
Macbeth Color Checker Chart, used as a marker. Since chromatic values of Macbeth Chart
colors are well known and have been objectively established, the digital image is processed
with color balancing techniques aimed to restore the original value of patch, in order to
eliminate distortions coming from light sources. After the color correction, once regions of
interest are selected via ‘point and click’ for the identification of surface color, the
algorithm converts RGB values in Munsell data. The results obtained and percentages of
successful matching with Munsell color identification coming from the statistical analysis seem to open new perspectives for the development of a full automatic system with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) aimed to facilitate significantly some aspects of the archaeologist’s work. Furthermore, for verifying the reliability of our tool, the chromatic coordinates evaluated for the pottery sherds were compared with the measured data obtained by the spectrophotometric method using the CIELAB space to evaluate the differences.
soils through the application of Munsell system. This method widely used in other fields,
like geology and anthropology, is based on the subjective matching between the real color
and its standardized version on Munsell Charts. It is common knowledge that
environmental light conditions, cultural background, color sensibility and education can
condition the result misleading the identification. However few statistical studies quantify
this phenomenon. The interest toward color specification in different fields gave rise to a
multidisciplinary articulate study that involves archaeologists, computer scientists and
physicists to set the target of a unique reference system. In this paper a semi-automatic
method of color detection on selected regions of digital images of ancient pottery is
presented. This tool, whose encouraging experimental results are widely discussed in this
contribute, is aimed to prevent eventual subjective errors during color identification and to
speed up the process of identification itself. The starting point of the experiment was to
take digital pictures of group of potsherds - whose surface color was identified by a group
of archaeologists taken as statistic sample of interviewees - together with the Gretag-
Macbeth Color Checker Chart, used as a marker. Since chromatic values of Macbeth Chart
colors are well known and have been objectively established, the digital image is processed
with color balancing techniques aimed to restore the original value of patch, in order to
eliminate distortions coming from light sources. After the color correction, once regions of
interest are selected via ‘point and click’ for the identification of surface color, the
algorithm converts RGB values in Munsell data. The results obtained and percentages of
successful matching with Munsell color identification coming from the statistical analysis seem to open new perspectives for the development of a full automatic system with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) aimed to facilitate significantly some aspects of the archaeologist’s work. Furthermore, for verifying the reliability of our tool, the chromatic coordinates evaluated for the pottery sherds were compared with the measured data obtained by the spectrophotometric method using the CIELAB space to evaluate the differences.
Research Interests:
This paper describes a virtual restoration pipeline for the broken glass plates in the fund of the Department of Archaeological, Philological and Historical Studies of Catania University. This archive includes rare images of the... more
This paper describes a virtual restoration pipeline for the broken glass plates in the fund of the Department of Archaeological, Philological and Historical Studies
of Catania University. This archive includes rare images of the excavation activities of the Department in Sicily and Greece. Several of the plates are damaged and
fractured and require virtual realignment and restoration. We adapted to this case a restoration algorithm based on the use of image processing techniques. The
algorithm enhance the quality of scanned images, and subsequently performs a rigid registration and realignment of the fragments. A final application of inpainting
techniques fills the gaps.
of Catania University. This archive includes rare images of the excavation activities of the Department in Sicily and Greece. Several of the plates are damaged and
fractured and require virtual realignment and restoration. We adapted to this case a restoration algorithm based on the use of image processing techniques. The
algorithm enhance the quality of scanned images, and subsequently performs a rigid registration and realignment of the fragments. A final application of inpainting
techniques fills the gaps.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
"In the past decade, computer graphics have become strategic for the development of projects aimed at the interpretation of archaeological evidence and the dissemination of scientific results to the public. Among all the solutions... more
"In the past decade, computer graphics have become strategic for the development of projects aimed at the interpretation of
archaeological evidence and the dissemination of scientific results to the public. Among all the solutions available, the use of 3D models is particularly relevant for the reconstruction of poorly preserved sites and monuments destroyed by natural causes or
human actions.These digital replicas are, at the same time, a virtual environment that can be used as a tool for the interpretative hypotheses of archaeologists and as an effective medium for a visual description of the cultural heritage. In this paper, the innovative methodology and aims and outcomes of a virtual reconstruction of the Bor푔̇ in-Nadur megalithic temple, carried out by Archeomatica Project of the University of Catania, are offered as a case study for a virtual archaeology of prehistoric Malta."
archaeological evidence and the dissemination of scientific results to the public. Among all the solutions available, the use of 3D models is particularly relevant for the reconstruction of poorly preserved sites and monuments destroyed by natural causes or
human actions.These digital replicas are, at the same time, a virtual environment that can be used as a tool for the interpretative hypotheses of archaeologists and as an effective medium for a visual description of the cultural heritage. In this paper, the innovative methodology and aims and outcomes of a virtual reconstruction of the Bor푔̇ in-Nadur megalithic temple, carried out by Archeomatica Project of the University of Catania, are offered as a case study for a virtual archaeology of prehistoric Malta."
Research Interests: Digital Humanities, Mediterranean prehistory, Digital Archaeology, Digital Culture, Malta (Archaeology), and 9 moreHumanities Visualization, Virtual Archaeology, Megalithic Monuments, Greek Archaeology, Prehistory of Malta and Gozo, 3D Modelling (Architecture), Mediterranean archaeology, Maltese & Central Mediterranean Prehistory, and Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality
The aim of this paper is to present a real-time interaction system for ancient artifacts digitally restored in a virtual environment. Using commercial hardware and open source software, Augmented Reality versions of archaeological... more
The aim of this paper is to present a real-time interaction system for ancient artifacts digitally restored in a virtual environment. Using commercial hardware and open source software, Augmented Reality versions of archaeological artifacts are experienced on mobile devices both in a real outdoor site as well as an indoor museum. The case study for this project is represented by two artifacts of Syracuse, Italy, a statue and an altar, dated back to Hellenistic time. Virtual replicas of the two artifacts were produced applying different techniques. Later the two projects became part of the same research plan aimed to virtually rebuild the most significant artistic and architectural features of Hellenistic Syracuse. Besides the simple production of 3D models, via laserscanning and 3D modelling, a digital process of visual improvement of the statue was preliminary carried out based on photographic documentation of some archetypes. The
commercial framework for mobile devices, ARToolworks, has been used for developing Augmented Reality applications.
Using a pattern that is recognized by the device, the virtual model is shown as it is in the real world. The novelty of this work is that graduate students in virtual archaeology and non computer programmers such as museum staff, could benefit of this work and implement such a system.
commercial framework for mobile devices, ARToolworks, has been used for developing Augmented Reality applications.
Using a pattern that is recognized by the device, the virtual model is shown as it is in the real world. The novelty of this work is that graduate students in virtual archaeology and non computer programmers such as museum staff, could benefit of this work and implement such a system.
Research Interests: Digital Humanities, Digital Archaeology, Augmented Reality, Digital Culture, Humanities Visualization, and 9 moreVirtual Archaeology, Greek Archaeology, 3D Modelling (Architecture), Greek Sicily, Mobile Augmented Reality, Greek Sculpture, Archeologia Siciliana, Siracusa, and Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality
A recent digitalization project of the textual and iconographical fund of Department of Archaeology Library of the Catania University, one of the largest and oldest among Italian academies, presented the challenging problem of the... more
A recent digitalization project of the textual and iconographical fund of Department of Archaeology Library of the Catania University, one of the largest and oldest among Italian academies, presented the challenging problem of the iconographical resources on glass plates coated by silver halide. The Library has an archive of about 3,000 glass plates. Several of these are damaged and fractured. Acquisition of these images with
a scanner or with a digital camera, after a manual recomposing of the sherds, leaves badly visible gaps and fracture lines. This happens because of an uncorrect alignment of the fragments or for the lost of the emulsion. To solve this problem and to introduce
an ecient process to restore a large amount of fractured glass plates, we developed an automatic method for the virtual restoration of this large dataset based on the use of
image processing techniques. The paper describes the proposed processing pipeline and discusses the results obtained insofar.
a scanner or with a digital camera, after a manual recomposing of the sherds, leaves badly visible gaps and fracture lines. This happens because of an uncorrect alignment of the fragments or for the lost of the emulsion. To solve this problem and to introduce
an ecient process to restore a large amount of fractured glass plates, we developed an automatic method for the virtual restoration of this large dataset based on the use of
image processing techniques. The paper describes the proposed processing pipeline and discusses the results obtained insofar.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Digital Humanities, Digital Archaeology, Digital Culture, Humanities Visualization, Virtual Archaeology, and 9 moreGreek Archaeology, 3D Modelling (Architecture), Urban archaeology, Greek Sicily, Roman Sicily, Archeologia Siciliana, 3d Reconstructions in Archaeology, 3D Laser Scanning (Archaeology), and Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality
The colossal torso of the god Asclepius, kept into the Castello Maniace during the Spanish domination of Sicily, is now one of the most significant examples of roman statuary in the Syracuse Museum. The recent restoration of the Castello... more
The colossal torso of the god Asclepius, kept into the Castello Maniace during the Spanish domination of Sicily, is now one of the most significant examples of
roman statuary in the Syracuse Museum. The recent restoration of the Castello Maniace has been celebrated in 2008 with an exhibition of archaeological finds
obtained in the various excavations of the castle. The statue of Asclepius, which had for centuries been a part of the architecture there, should have been the most
significant piece on display. However, its large size and frailty made such a temporary move inadvisable, and it was decided that a plaster cast should be made and exhibited instead. A team of archaeologists and information technicians from the Archeomatica Project of Catania University were able to contribute to this task by creating a 3D model of the statue through the use of laser scanning techniques.
roman statuary in the Syracuse Museum. The recent restoration of the Castello Maniace has been celebrated in 2008 with an exhibition of archaeological finds
obtained in the various excavations of the castle. The statue of Asclepius, which had for centuries been a part of the architecture there, should have been the most
significant piece on display. However, its large size and frailty made such a temporary move inadvisable, and it was decided that a plaster cast should be made and exhibited instead. A team of archaeologists and information technicians from the Archeomatica Project of Catania University were able to contribute to this task by creating a 3D model of the statue through the use of laser scanning techniques.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
STANCO F., TANASI D., CULTRERA D., Virtual reconstruction of the Borg in-Nadur megalithic temple, in D. Tanasi, N.C. Vella (eds.), Site, Artefacts, Landscape: Prehistoric Borġ in-Nadur, Malta, Praehistorica Mediterranea, vol. 3, pp. 393-411, Monza: Polimetrica 2011, ISBN/ISSN: 978-88-7699-223-0.more