Potentialités de l’outil LiDAR pour cartographier les vestiges de la Grande Guerre en milieu intra-forestier (bois des Caures, forêt domaniale de Verdun, Meuse)

Abstract

A century after the Great War, traces of the fighting remain numerous in the landscapes of North-Eastern France. In 2013, an airborne LiDAR survey conducted in the Verdun forest allowing us to highlight hidden and preserved remnants of war on 3-D images. This study explores the potential of LiDAR in analysing and mapping conserved traces of military facilities in the Caures wood (Verdun forest), site of the first fights of the Verdun battle (1916). Data processing and fieldwork serve to establish an innovative typology and detailed maps of remnants diversity, shelters and ditches, and organisation of the battlefield.

Keywords

• airborne LiDAR
• remnant of war
• conflict-induced landform
• interpretative mapping
• archival document