Buglio, David LoLuca, Livio DeFranco Niccolucci and Matteo Dellepiane and Sebastian Pena Serna and Holly Rushmeier and Luc Van Gool2013-10-312013-10-312011978-3-905673-86-9https://doi.org/10.2312/PE/VAST/VAST11S/005-012This article concentrates on the epistemological aspects of architectural survey. It offers a critical observation of the technologies used in the field of 3D digitization. More specifically, the study evaluates the way in which the tools and methods used for the acquisition and representation of the data do or do not contribute to the enhancement of architectural knowledge. To understand the relationships between technology and knowledge transfer, we will carry out an observation based on a series of case studies. This is intended to highlight a dual issue of a cognitive nature: the first, perceptual, refers to the comprehension of the object and the second, descriptive, refers to the intelligibility of the 3D information model. This reflexive approach is justified by the fact that the main technological advances rarely compensate the methodological deficiencies encountered. Finally, this article offers perspectives for the in-depth study of all the cognitive mechanisms involved in the architectural survey.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Picture/Image Generation-Digitizing and scanning I.3.5 [Computer Graphics]: Computational Geometry and Object Modeling-Curve, surface, solid, and object representations I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Methodology and Techniques-Graphics data structures and data types