Monument Monitor is a collaborative research project between Historic Environment Scotland and the Institute of Sustainable Heritage at University College London. It aims to assess to what extent we can use visitors photographs of heritage sites to inform conservation and monitoring efforts.

Specifically, we will be looking at exactly what we can measure reliably using visitors photographs and how many images are needed for it to be a reliable method of monitoring. We will be attempting to measure discolouration and colour change, erosion, moss and lichen growth, erosion as well as vandalism. We will also want to ascertain if AI can be used for any or all of this process.

The purpose of this research is to ascertain if, and to what extent, visitors images of heritage sites can be used for conservation purposes. We want to see wether we can extract valuble conservation data, such as colour information, scale and erosion to help with condition assessments of the monuments. In this specific project we want to track the levels of water-logging at Machrie Moor. As the climate has changed in Scotland it is likely this monument has been underwater a lot more. This is something that should be monitored in case action is needed to protect the site in the future.