Innovative Cultural Resource
Management Solutions, Worldwide

Our Expertise

As a self-performing cultural resource management firm, OVAI has successfully completed over 1,000 projects for a wide variety of federal, state, and local agencies, as well as private sector clients throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. OVAI’s professional staff is well regarded for its expertise in prehistoric and historic archaeology, historic military forts, historic and prehistoric cemeteries, prehistoric mounds and earthworks, and above-ground cultural resources.

In addition to traditional historic preservation, OVAI also boasts one of the most comprehensive archaeological geophysical (remote sensing) programs in the United States. Our expertise includes the use of magnetometry, ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistance, magnetic susceptibility, and other types of instrumentation. Likewise, our aerial UAV 3D model and photogrammetry program is gaining considerable attention as a means for efficiently documenting and mapping above ground cultural resources in the US and abroad.

Our State-of-the-Art Technology

OVAI integrates state-of-the-art technology with traditional approaches to better identify, document, and evaluate cultural resources effectively and efficiently.  The combined use of archaeo-geophysics, photogrammetry, GIS, and minimal ground-truthing yields a more comprehensive understanding of archaeological resources than traditional approaches alone.  This improves the quality of archaeological evaluation at an early stage and is beneficial for time/cost reduction and planning.

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and photogrammetry provide a relatively quick way to accurately map topographic landscapes and historic buildings. Photogrammetry models of buildings can be incorporated into CAD type programs for accurate measurement and alteration. High-resolution photogrammetry-based topographic models can be implemented in numerous GIS applications to conduct terrain analysis, calculate volumes, and find subtle surface features that are otherwise imperceptible. UAS-based photogrammetry has also proven effective for accurately mapping complex landscapes, such as cemeteries.

Featured

“The Mary Worthington Macomb House, built circa 1800, was bought by Thomas Worthington, the 6th governor of Ohio, for use by his daughter Mary. Though smaller and simpler than the Adena Mansion, Worthington’s personal home, the Macomb House shares a similar style in its stone construction. The video here is an animation of the 3D model built with photogrammetry and drone-based photographs.”