Nick Blenkarn

BSc (Hons), MSc, MRICS, MInstCES, MPWI, MIoD, Director of the Severn Partnership, UK

Title of presentation :Preserving city identity:  Novel modelling for documented preservation and visualisation of Urban Heritage

Preserving city identity:3D laser scanning and 3D modeling for documented preservation and visualisation of Urban Heritage.

Content:

Through our research project with Wolverhampton University, we arelooking to show how 3D laser scan data can be used as the basis for highlyaccurate and visually detailed ways of recording and visualising cultural andurban heritage.

Using as an example the pioneering work of English Heritage inspecifying heritage laser scanning to acquire complete datasets, and thenlooking at how this scan data can be used as the basis to create accurate 3Dmodels and texture mapped photorealistic visualisations of heritage buildingsand monuments. We will also highlight the work of CyArk and how their approachcan be used on the Ajman Heritage Quarter and the Ajman Fort. CyArk is anonprofit charitable organisation aiming to record cultural heritage sitesallover the world using laser scan data donated toit.

Once the source scan data archive is complete, our research islooking into how the resultant 3D models can be firstly rendered to givephotorealistic models in 3D and then looking at platforms for communicating thisdata.  This could be web based or accessed via mobile platforms such as theiPad, both allowing interaction with the models to move beyond visualisation, tothe direct querying of buildings in 3D, providing links to other media and beinga rich source of information.

In this way, not only is the 3D heritage information preserved, butis made available to easily communicate ‘city identity’ to a wider audience ofinterested parties who may not have the chance to visit in person.

Such a methodology could be used for the Ajman Fort and AjmanHeritage Quarter - one idea to be discussed in the working group.