The use of terrestrial laser scanning in monitoring of the residential barracks at the site of the former concentration camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau

The technological development of the remote sensing systems more and more often meets the requirements related to archiving the cultural heritage of humanity. Today, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is a very useful tool in acquiring spatial data about monuments of architecture. However, construction features of these monuments, their shape, size and kind of materials they are made of often set limits to the use of TLS technology in documentation of the condition of these objects. When archiving the state of barracks of the former concentration camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau proved necessary, the authors of this paper suggested and implemented the idea of monitoring the technical condition of the objects by using terrestrial (ground-based) laser scanning technology. This method, backed by a traditional geodesy, allowed for archiving the barracks’ state with a satisfactory accuracy, while minimizing the inconveniences caused by the construction features of buildings.