Sustainability through Geospatial Innovation — EULiST BIP on Point Clouds at NTUA
The protection and intelligent management of cultural heritage of critical infrastructure and of the natural environment depend increasingly on the systematic generation and exploitation of high-resolution three-dimensional spatial data. From 20 to 26 April 2026, the School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering of NTUA, under the scientific coordination of Prof. Efi Dimopoulou, hosted the EULiST Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme "Point Clouds for Society: Cultural Heritage, Infrastructure, and Environment". Over one week, more than 30 students and academic staff from five EULiST partner universities, with strong contributions from partner institutions in Vienna and Bratislava, combined theoretical lectures, intensive fieldwork and hands-on data processing focused on the generation and applied use of 3D point clouds. The programme's main fieldwork site was the Monastery of Agios Ioannis Kynigos, where participants conducted geodetic and photogrammetric documentation that will result in a forthcoming scientific publication on the 3D geometric documentation of its catholicon. Supporting lectures and final group presentations were held at the School's facilities at NTUA, complemented by a cultural tour of Athens led by Associate Prof. Eleftheria Tsakanika of the School of Architecture. The BIP was organised by a dedicated team Assistant Professors George Piniotis and Konstantinos Nikolitas of the Geodesy Laboratory, Adjunct Lecturer Dr. Styliani Verykokou and Laboratory Teaching Staff Regina Chliverou of the Photogrammetry Laboratory, together with the EULiST NTUA Office (Melina Giannakopoulou). By bridging spatial-data engineering with the protection of European cultural heritage and the monitoring of the environment, the BIP exemplifies how NTUA's technical capacity contributes to a broader, human-centred reading of the sustainability agenda, one in which heritage, infrastructure and the natural environment are recognised as inseparable dimensions of the same transition.
