Articles

CyArk is pleased to announce our partnership with the Hispanic Research Center at Arizona State University and their ongoing Saint Francis and the Americas project. Earlier this year at the California Missions Studies Association's annual conference in Santa Barbara, CA, CyArk representatives Tom Greaves and Justin Barton met Dr.

Our mission at CyArk is to digitally preserve cultural heritage sites using advanced 3D imaging tools. Our purpose is to make the information we collect available in perpetuity for both education and conservation purposes.

The Sydney Opera House, with its white-tiled, arched “shells” (or “sails”, depending on whom you happen to be speaking too), is a testament to creative genius and design. That, of course, is why it is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Scottish Ten scan UNESCO World Heritage-listed masterpiece, the only modern building included in this historic, global project Sydney Opera House is being surveyed inside and out by a team of laser scanning experts from Scotland to create an extraordinarily detailed, 3D model of Australia’s most famous building.

CyArk is proud to announce the launch of Saskatoon Canada’s Third Avenue Church on the CyArk website. The project is a result of CyArk’s new Data Donation Partner Program and a collaboration between CyArk, Stantec, Tourism Saskatoon, and of course Third Avenue Church itself.

A transatlantic project that will digitally document in 3D the homes of Scottish conservationist John Muir using cutting-edge scanning technology was announced by First Minister Alex Salmond in New York today.

In my humble opinion monikers are confusing to even the brightest of 3 year olds. So when I “somehow” acquired the nickname of Jaime Cakes - and believed Cakes to be my surname- my parents should have stepped in and clarified things.

Next week the team membersof theScottish Ten project board planes in both Scotland and the USA, some flying east, some flying west, but all converging on Sydney, Australia. Sydney is an iconic modern world city, established as the first British colony on the continental-island in 1788, but long-before occupied for as much as 30,000 years prior by Aboriginal people.

In 1881 Fort Conger was established on Canada's northern Ellesmere Island during the first northern polar scientific expedition. The Fort was funded by the US Government and was therefore named after US Senator Omar D.

On March 16th, 2013 I had the opportunity to present at the Japanese American Museum in San Jose (JAMsj). The presentation was open to the community and focused on presenting the preliminary results from our Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant on virtually reconstructing Manzanar, Topaz and Tule Lake.

Elizabeth Lee, Director of Operations at CyArk, is pleased to be presenting on CyArk's digital preservation efforts at Manzanar, Topaz, and Tule Lake at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose this Saturday.

This article is written by Calvin Kwon. Calvin Kwon is a Proejct Manager for Organization & Networks (ON) Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto – a significant Catholic pilgrimage site visited by nearly 6 million pilgrims each year – was digitally documented by CyArk and Organization & Networks (ON) on January 29th, 2013.

The Society for California Archaeology (SCA) will be hosting a Public Day at the Berkeley Marina during their 2013 Annual Meeting. The Public Day will bring together participants from archaeology and related disciplines to engage with and educate the public about California's past.

This article is written by Divya Jayaram. Divya has a Masters in Architectural Conservation from the University of Edinburgh and is currently a volunteer with CyArk Documentation forms the basis for any conservation project.

February 4, 2013 — Science Visualization, a Maryland-based company that brings science to the public through media and exhibitions, today announced its partnership with CyArk, the world leader in digitally preserving world heritage sites.

This following video, produced by Historic Scotland, shows the Scottish Ten team digitally documenting the expansive Eastern Qing Tombs in northeast China. Using laser scanning technology to capture some of the monuments of the Tombs, the work was conducted throughout November 2012.

CyArk is proud to serve as the Digital Historic Preservation Track Chair for the 2013 SPAR International Conference. The annual SPAR International conference brings 3D professionals together to acquire practical skills for using the latest 3D tools and workflows to work better, faster, smarter, safer.

Mission San Juan Bautista, located about 90 miles south of San Francisco, was founded in June 1797 by Fr. Fermin de Lasuen. It was the fifteenth of twenty-one missions established in Alta California. Construction of the current church began in 1803 and is the widest of all the mission churches with its three aisles.

The Eastern Qing Tombs is made up of 15 separate tomb complexes for emperors, emperoresses, and emperial concubines. The third international Scottish Ten project focused on just two of these tombs, but their digital preservation was no small task: Two tombs, six kilometers of processual ways, ten bridges, six towers, four stela, 46 statues, and over 20 ancillary structures awaited reality capture by the team upon arrival.

This article was written by James Hepher, HS Surveyor, and Alastair Rawlinson, DDS Head of Data Capture. Weeks Two and Three on the Scottish Ten project here at the Eastern Qing tombs near Zunhua, China, has been all about integrating new cutting edge technology into our busy survey programme.

This week marks the close of fieldwork at the Eastern Qing Tombs in China. The project is the third international project of the Scottish Ten, following Mount Rushmore in the United States and Rani Ki Vav in India.

SAN FRANCISCO, California, November 19, 2012 – CyArk and Zynga.org have teamed up to preserve our cultural heritage sites -- the tangible representations of humanity’s shared past. Players of Zynga’s popular Hidden Chronicles game can now support CyArk’s digital preservation projects on Mayan sites in Mexico and Central America, as well as other heritage sites around the world by participating in a new Zynga.

This article is written by special guest blogger Blaine Kortemeyer. Blaine works as the Assistant Chief of Interpretation and Education as well as being one of the Preservation Team members for Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Last week Digidoc 12 was held at the Royal College of Sugeons’ Hall in theatrically mist-filled streets of Edinburgh Scotland. Over 200 people from the UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Australia and South Korea attended our event.

SAN FRANCISCO, California, October 25, 2012 -- Andrew Galvan, curator of Old Mission Dolores, San Francisco's oldest building debuted CyArk's virtual tour and 3D visualization of the mission in San Francisco today.

October 22, 2012: Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop today announced that Sydney Opera House will be the fourth international site to be digitally scanned by the Scottish Ten team.

Next week the 4th International Euro-Mediterranean Conference (EuroMed 2012) opens in Cyprus. The event which runs from October 29 to November 3 will be attended by hundreds of cultural heritage professionals, researchers, policy makers and technologists from all over the world.

CyArk is in the final stages of the work to virtually reconstruct three sites through a grant from the National Park Service's Japanese American Confinement Sites program. In 2011, CyArk began a project to utilize new digital tools to share the history of the unjust treatment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during WWII.

CyArk to launch CyArk Europe Limited at Digidoc 2012, October 22-23 in Edinburgh. With Douglas Pritchard at the helm, CyArk Europe will advance CyArk’s mission to digitally preserve heritage sites and structures in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Mission San Luis Rey was founded in June 1798 as the eighteenth Spanish mission established in California. It is named after Saint Louis IX, King of France. The current church structure dates to 1811 and by 1830 it was the largest building in California.

Earlier this week Historic Scotland announced the annual Digidoc conference. Digidoc is the leading international conference on digital documentation and visualisation in relation to architecture, design, heritage and new media.

CyArk is thrilled to announce the receipt of a cash grant from IBM. The grant will go towards supporting the integration of CyArk’s educational content into IBM’s Teachers TryScience platform. This grant is particularly exciting given the natural overlap in CyArk’s mission and reach and IBM’s desire to support science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

This year CyArk has been working closely with our partners at Mt Rushmore National Memorial and Autodesk to digitally preserve artifacts within the park's collection using photogrammetric techniques. In May 2012 Autodesk and CyArk conducted a first stage test of Autodesk's 123D Catch software by documenting a handful of artifacts, ranging in size, material, and geometry.

For a week in early August (8/6/12 - 8/10/12), I worked closely with Ronald "Chip" Fenenga of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School (SYVUHS) to train him in CyArk's digital preservation methods and standards.

CyArk requests the pleasure of your company for the Digital El Camino Real Launch at Mission Dolores 5-7pm, Thursday, October 25th at Mission Dolores 3321 16th Street, San Francisco - free parking in the Mission Dolores school yard off Church Street R.

With the major advancements in browser technologies in the past few years, CyArk has been working on a brand new Online 3D Viewer to help serve our mission of providing realistic, meaningful, useful, and interactive content to our viewers.

On the afternoon of Monday, July 23, 2012, I was at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, CA. Along with staff from Manzanar National Historic Site, CyArk unveiled its first draft of a digital reconstruction of Manzanar circa 1944.

CyArk and its network of partners have been working this year to bring digital preservation technologies to El Camino Real of California, the historic route also known as the "California Mission Trail", which follows the Spanish colonization of California.

CyArk is excited to unveil the in-progress digital reconstruction of Manzanar for public preview and comment. Through a unique partnership with the National Park Service, CyArk is working to create a digital reconstruction of Manzanar circa 1944.

This week in San Francisco's historic Presidio, CyArk will participate in the 3D Digital Documentation Summit hosted by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. The conference runs from July 10-12 and will cover a number of different technologies and case studies.

At the end of May I traveled to northern South Africa with our Technology Center partners, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the African Conservation Trust. The project's aim was to provide a second round of training, oversight, and methodology development with the Tech Center staff and students.

Earlier in 2012, as a part of my 2012 Science Fair Project at St. Catherine School, I wanted to learn about 3D printing. I started by researching what exactly 3D printing is and how it’s already used by many different industries today.

The CyArk Digital Preservation Station will be open throughout the July 3rd Independence Day celebration at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the station throughout the day to gain experience with 3D capture, digital modeling, and 3D printing while helping CyArk digitally preserve Mount Rushmore’s history for the virtual enjoyment of the world.

KEYSTONE, SD: The National Park Service announces the official launch of the Mount Rushmore Digital Preservation project. At a press event held this week in Rapid City, the National Park Service and partners Kacyra Family Foundation/ CyArk (CyArk) unveiled the results of a multi-year digital preservation project.

Rapid City, South Dakota: Project partners of the Mount Rushmore digital preservation project announce the launch of the official National Park Service mobile app featuring a virtual tour of the Mountain Sculpture and park grounds, as well as selected 3D content resulting from the laser scanning of the park.

On May 31st at an event held in Madrid, Google announced its new World Wonders Project. Led by Google’s Street View technology, the World Wonders Project allows users to virtually explore and discover a diverse range of heritage sites from 17 countries.

The week of May 14th CyArk kicked off a multi-year program with Mexico’s National Institute for History and Anthropology (INAH). The program, titled the Sacred Cities of Ancient Mexico involves the digital preservation of 11 major UNESCO cultural heritage sites in Mexico, including Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza, and Palenque.

Instituto Nacional de Anthropologia y Historia (INAH) has developed a groundbreaking partnership with CyArk. The joint program, the Sacred Cities of Ancient Mexico, will digitally preserve 11 of Mexico’s major cultural heritage sites.

CyArk is extremely honored to announce that we've received the second prize in EMC's Heritage Trust Project Contest. We'd like to thank all the CyArk supporters who made this win possible by voting for us on the contest's Facebook page in April.

Here's your chance to hear CyArk's founder Ben Kacyra speak about CyArk's work to digitally preserve the California Missions and El Camino Real, as well as other global heritage sites in the CyArk 500.

CyArk's Executive Director, Tom Greaves, gives an insightful interview for the latest issue of LiDAR Magazine. In the article Tom discusses how his early upbringing and education guided his career choices around technology, math, and science.

CyArk has been selected as one of seven finalists in EMC's Heritage Trust Project. The EMC Heritage Trust Project recognizes and supports digital stewardship of the world's information heritage in local communities.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the most infamous maritime disaster of all time, CyArk is proud to announce the launch of the Titanic Database Project. The project is the result of Director James Cameron's generous donation of dive footage and countless hours of expert volunteers.

How do we archive heritage documentation so we can be confident we'll be able to retrieve this information next year, in 5 years, in 50 years or 500 years? The United States Library of Congress requires physical, durable materials for heritage documentation; the standard is ink-on-mylar and large format black and white photographs.

In a continued effort to bring the best tools for digital preservation to our workflow, CyArk has finalized an MOU with Technodigit, the makers of 3DReshaper meshing software. CyArk began testing the software on select projects in 2011 and its power and robust ability to create clean, accurate meshes easily from laser scan data has brought it into our regular workflow for data processing and deliverables creation.

CyArk’s Founder, Ben Kacyra, will be speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 10th. The United States' oldest and largest public affairs forum, the Commonwealth Club, presents 400 impartial discussions and talks annually to the public and its members on the subjects of politics, economics, culture, and society.

You are invited to listen to CyArk's Director of Projects and Development, Elizabeth Lee, deliver a lecture tonight on digital preservation to the AIA of St. Louis. Elizabeth will be discussing CyArk's mission and use of technology in the field of archaeology.

As a non-profit, CyArk is a recipient of free licenses for SketchUp Pro through Google's SketchUp for Nonprofits program. Google's SketchUp team recently approached us to write a blog about how we utilize their 3D modeling software toward our mission of digital preservation, education, and dissemination.

CyArk will once again be participating in the annual Spar International Conference, being held April 15-18 in The Woodlands, Texas. Spar is a conference where leading 3D professionals convene to discuss the state of the industry, learn best practices, share ideas across diverse business segments, and compare and qualify hardware and software solutions from all major suppliers.

February 28, 2012: The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park formally announces the launch of the San Antonio Missions Digital Portal, a new way to virtually visit the National Historical Park in San Antonio, Texas in both English and Spanish.

CyArk is in the running for a $10,000 advertising grant from Facebook! If won, this grant could drastically help increase our social media presence to spread the word of our mission and foster advocacy for the digital preservation and dissemination of our cultural heritage.

February 19th marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States military became wary of the large Japanese-American population on the West Coast.

CyArk has partnered with Ronald Rael, a Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley, to test a new innovation in the field of rapid prototyping as well as to test our ability to produce media fit for physical production.

The National Park Service and CyArk are extremely excited to kick off the new year with the launch of the much anticipated Mount Rushmore Website, a new way to virtually visit the National Memorial near Keystone, South Dakota.

Beginning January 2, 2012 Tom Greaves will serve as Executive Director of CyArk. Tom has long been a supporter of CyArk and its mission to digitally preserve our world's cultural heritage.  He began his career as a field engineer working for Schlumberger in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Oman.

CyArk and partners are extremely excited to announce the launch of the Hopi Petroglyph Sites Digital Preservation Project Website. This special Hopi portal on the CyArk website will allow a new generation of Native American youth to learn about and share the legacy of their ancestors.

Season's Greetings, As 2011 comes to a close, I want to reach out and thank you for your support and contributions over this past year, and to ask you for your continued help as we formally launch The CyArk 500 Challenge.

CyArk is pleased to announce the signing of an MOU with the Dunhuang Academy for the digital preservation of the Mogao Caves. The caves represent one of the most important sites in China and we are thrilled to welcome the new partnership with Director Fan and the entire Dunhuang Academy.

This week in Edinburgh, CyArk's Ben Kacyra and Elizabeth Lee will be speaking on the topic of Remote Access to World Heritage Sites. The two day conference features delegates from around the world and will cover a range of topics related to the subject of remote access.

As part of a continued partnership between CyArk and The University of Colorado Denver’s Center of Preservation Research (CoPR) in the College of Architecture and Planning, we have teamed up again to help document Japanese American Confinement Sites across the country.

The morning of November 9, 2011 Ben Kacyra's TED talk went live on the TED.com website. The talk is currently featured on the homepage of TED and within the first eight hours of going live the talk surpassed 25,000 views.

For over a year, CyArk has been based in downtown Oakland, home to many amazing Art Deco architectural masterpieces. We are fortunate to have our office in the famous Breuner Building. It was designed in 1931 by Albert Roller during the heyday of the Art Deco movement.

As you may already know, CyArk has been enthusiastically making progress on the project to digitally preserve three out of ten War Relocation Authority Relocation Centers from World War II. Under a grant from the National Park Service's Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, the Topaz Relocation Center was the first to get laser scanned in August, followed by Manzanar in September.

The Scottish Ten team and CyArk began work scanning Rani Ki Vav stepwell in Patan, Gujarat, India this week. This project is the second international site of the Scottish Ten. The first international project was Mt.

We are proud to announce that CyArk has surpassed a million visits on our website for the year. At the close of September we had already reached 1.06 million visits. This same time last year we were at about 600,000 views.

Last week marked the always exciting Digital Documentation conference in Glasgow, Scotland. This was the third year of the conference, now shortened to Digidoc, and was truly the best conference yet. CyArk has been very proud to partner and participate in the conference since inception with the key organizing partners Historic Scotland and the Glasgow School of Art.

After a great deal of work, CyArk is proud to announce the release of our first iPad app in the iTunes Store. (EDIT: It has subsequently been released for iPhones as well). The Fort Laramie app is available for download here.

The National Park Service (NPS) has partnered with CyArk through the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program to digitally preserve the Topaz Relocation Center. The Topaz Relocation Center is one of three camps to be documented under this grant program through critical partnerships with the University of Colorado, Denver’s Center of Preservation Research and Denshō.

On a typical cool Bay Area summer morning, the CyArk team made its way to the Presidio of San Francisco to capture some of the oldest walls ever built in the city. At the heart of the Presidio, these walls make up the structure called the Officers' Club.

Glasgow is set to host an international conference on digital documentation next month. The Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation (CDDV), a joint venture between Historic Scotland and the Digital Design Studio at the Glasgow School of Art will welcome an international delegation to the city to foster collaboration on the use of 3D technology and digital imaging.

CyArk's Director of Projects and Development, Elizabeth Lee, to keynote annual international conference. Elizabeth will be speaking about CyArk and our global digital heritage preservation efforts. The ISDE is a non-political, non-governmental and not-for-profit international organization, principally for promotion of academic exchange, science and technology innovation, education, and international collaboration.

Last December, CyArk, with the help of its partners, conducted the field work for the Digital Preservation of three culturally significant Hawaiian sites. Those sites, or wahi pana ("place(s) of significant meaning" in Hawaiian), were Hulihe'e Palace, which was the summer residence of the Hawaiian royal family, Ahu'ena Heiau, which was Kamehameha the Great's personal temple, and portions of the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Park, which served as a sanctuary to those fleeing from capture or punishment.

St. Kilda becomes the most recent addition to the Scottish Ten. Earlier this month, CyArk's partner, the Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualization (comprised of Historic Scotland and the Glasgow School of Art's Digital Design Studio (GSA)) traveled to the remote island of St Kilda in the far corner of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Ben Kacyra spoke to a crowd of over 600 people at the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh earlier this month. Speaking on the final day of the conference, Ben Kacyra spoke about CyArk and the need to preserve our collective human memory.

As a historic preservationist, I realize that large and gorgeously-designed buildings and monuments and archaeological ruins of bygone civilizations usually grab the public’s attention, and rightfully so.

After creating educational activities and other content for the Tutuveni petroglyph site, I have become inspired to learn more about rock art. In different corners of the world over vast stretches of time, rock art has served as forms of communication, record-keeping, and ceremony.

CyArk receives $240,000 towards the digital preservation of three Japanese American Confinement Sites. CyArk, in partnership with the University of Colorado at Denver, Densho, and the War Relocation Authority (WRA) sites of Tule Lake, Topaz, and Manzanar, will digitally preserve three sites in order to share the history of the unjust treatment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during WWII.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa at Piazza del Duomo is one of the most recognizable wonders of the world. But with hundreds of years of stress, pollution, tourists and pigeons, the Tower was in need of some help.

As a young, non-profit organization, CyArk thrives on volunteers and student interns. Internship programs allow us to teach the next generation of digital preservation specialists. We also learn from the interns who bring fresh ideas and knowledge of the latest technologies.

The annual Leica Geosystems HDS Worldwide User Conference has officially been merged with the annual Hexagon conference. This merge joins Leica with its new family affiliates under the Hexagon umbrella, including ERDAS and Integraph.

Earlier this year the CyArk team traveled to Rhode Island to digitally preserve the Marble House— one of the famous Newport Mansions built as a “summer cottage” during the late 1800’s. The home, built for William Vanderbilt and his wife Alva, contains a space, hailed as the Gothic Room, which was designed specifically to hold the couples’ Medieval and Renaissance art collection.

On July 15th Ben Kacyra will address the global audience at TED with his Idea Worth Spreading, CyArk. TED is a nonprofit with the mission of spreading ideas. Started as a conference in 1984 to bring together people from the worlds of Technology, Entertainment, and Design, TED has since expanded to include several conferences and the free dissemination of the best TEDTalks online.

CyArk is pleased to share the following press release with our audience. CyArk has partnered with University of Colorado Denver's Center of Preservation Research (CoPR) since 2009. The partnership began as a collaboration on the National Park Service Fort Laramie National Historic Site digital preservation project.

In March I traveled to Edinburgh and Glasgow to meet with our partners from the Centre of Digital Documentation and Visualization (CDDV), which is comprised of Historic Scotland's Conservation Group and Glasgow School of Arts' Digital Design Studio.

CyArk is excited to provide access to Spanish speakers through the launch of our Spanish website Fotografía del Sistema IV en Monte Albán (Photograph of System IV at Monte Albán) El archivo digital de CyArk continua creciendo con cada nuevo sitio de patrimonio que es documentado.

This year's spar conference had perhaps the largest showing of heritage presentations in recent years. CyArk has worked with Spar closely over the last few years to organize the heritage component of the conference.

Since its tragic descent to two and a half miles below the North Atlantic on April 14th, 1912, the RMS Titanic has been gradually deteriorating along the ocean floor. Recently, the scientific community has discovered that the ship is decaying at an alarming rate and may be gone within 15 years because of a previously unknown bacteria.

I've just completed a week long trip to South Africa where I met with our new partners, the African Conservation Trust (ACT) and the Geomatics department of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Together ACT and UKZN have established a close relationship in which UKZN has received grants from the South African National Lottery system to conduct various heritage and environmental conservation projects.

Over the last few years, CyArk has worked closely with Spar conference organizers to develop a strong heritage presence at the conference. As the conference officially kicks off this morning in Houston, we wanted to give an overview of some of the heritage highlights for the week.

CyArk recently traveled to Rapid City, SD to meet with senior park staff to discuss the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Digital Preservation Project. This project is a 5 year partnership between the National Park Service and KFF/ CyArk to provide both engineering-grade data for tasks such as rock-block monitoring, analysis, and site resource management as well as a base data set to create virtual tourism and educational materials for public outreach and data dissemination.

Last week (Nov 29-Dec 4) saw the culmination of months of planning to bring Digital Preservation to the islands of Hawai'i. Through the concerted efforts of new allies and old partners, CyArk was able to conduct the documentation phase for the Digital Preservation of three culturally significant sites, or wahi pana (a "place" of significant meaning).

By this time, many are familiar with the story of our field collection efforts at Mt. Rushmore. After meticulously sorting through and editing 2.5 weeks of field data the CyArk team and our partners at CDDV are ready to offer a glimpse of our progress.

November 24, 2010: The National Park Service Intermountain Region formally announces the launch of a new way to virtually visit Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Wyoming. This new web portal into the history of the early 19th century crossroads of the American wilderness was created in partnership between the Intermountain Region of the National Park Service (NPS) and CyArk.

Objectives: One of the biggest goals we had in mind was to make our vast archive of content more easily accessible and better organized. We have added more information to our media elements so you are now able to view our media via the subnavigation bar at the top of most pages.

This week the 6Sight annual imaging technology conference was held in San Jose, CA. CyArk was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at the event and present on 3D imaging technologies and their applications for cultural heritage preservation.

Three of us from the CyArk team just returned from spending a week in the Arizona desert digitally documenting two Hopi petroglyph sites, Tutuveni and Dawa Park. Tutuveni is the primary site of the project and is a great example of the power of the World Monuments Fund Watch List.

My name is Lee Wayne Lomayestewa, I work in the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office of the Hopi Tribe as a Research Assistant. The Hopi Cultural Preservation met previously with the CyArk crew and other agencies including the World Monuments Fund, The Navajo Nation, Arizona Public Service, and the Petrified National Forest.

From October 6-9, 2010, the Association for Preservation Technology held their international conference in Denver, CO, USA. CyArk was there to present in the "Documentation" session. It was a joint presentation between me, Tom Keohan of the National Park Service (NPS), and Mike Nulty of the Center of Preservation Research (CoPR).

Last Friday, October 8th, CyArk's technology and content were highlighted at the final InOak event of the year. As taken from the InOak website, "INOAK was created in 2010 by a handful of innovative new companies based in Oakland, California with a single purpose; to expand and strengthen a thriving community of innovative new companies through collaboration and community.

CyArk's Mt. Rushmore project has been selected as the cover story for this month's issue of American Surveyor magazine. Vol.7, Issue 7 of the widely distributed industry magazine includes a 9-page cover story chronicling the Mount Rushmore digital preservation project.

Over the last year, we have developed a very close partnership with the Center of Preservation Research (CoPR) at the University of Colorado, Denver. The partnership which began with our work together on Fort Laramie, has expanded to the creation of a technology center at Denver with 3D laser scanning capacity.

The October 2010 issue of National Geographic features a 3-page article about CyArk and our mission. An abreviated version of the article may be viewed at: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big-idea/15/laser-preservation The article begins on page 24 of the magazine and displays images from the site of Rapa Nui and the Royal Tombs at Kasubi.

This post was written by Erwin Christofori of Christofori und Partner after he and his team scanned St. Anne's Church. Erwin has worked on 3D laser scanning projects around the world, including several projects in the CyArk Archive.

After the successful completion of the Mt. Rushmore Project, the Scottish Ten has begun work on the next project in Scotland. Beginning August 13th, the team has been hard at work capturing the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Neolithic Orkney.

Teotihuacán, a highly influential but still very mysterious epicenter in the pre-Columbian world, has recently revealed a tunnel sealed off since its cultural prime. Yesterday, the Herald reported that Mexican archaeologists found a tunnel forty feet below the surface of the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl.

This post was written by Dirk Häusleigner of Christofori und Partner before departing for Vilnius. Dirk has worked on 3D laser scanning projects around the world, including several projects in the CyArk Archive.

After several weeks on the road, I am back at CyArk headquarters in Oakland, CA. The biggest event over the last few weeks has been the completion of our work at Mt. Rushmore. During the project, Mt.

In mid-May I was privileged to be a part of a truly and literally monumental project: the Digital Preservation of Mount Rushmore. CyArk partnered with the Scottish Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation (CDDV), US National Park Service (NPS), and several local organizations (Wyss and Associates, RESPEC Engineering, and the South Dakota School of Mines and Engineering) to bring state-of-the-art survey and documentation techniques to this American Icon.

CyArk recently completed the 3D capture of Mt. Rushmore. Part of a 5 year partnership with the National Memorial, the laser scanning portion of the project was completed by an incredible team from across the country and across the world.

Things have been very busy at CyArk lately. Between our office move last month and our on-going projects, we have not been very diligent about our blogging. We hope to improve this through upcoming field blogs and updates.

On Tuesday March 16th 2010 at 3:52 PM Arizona time, I received a text message from a colleague in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa telling me that the Kasubi Tombs had been set on fire and had burned to the ground.

Last week we attended the annual Spar conference on 3D imaging and capture technologies. I have had the opportunity to attend this event for the past 3 years, and it is always a great experience. Spar offers an opportunity to learn about the emerging technologies in 3D capture, connect with old partners, gain insight about best practices and methodologies, and spark new relationships.

Last year CyArk partnered with World Monuments Fund (WMF) to Digitally Preserve the renowned cloister of Saint-Trophime, one of the multiple structures within the historic center of Arles, France inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The recent earthquake in Haiti has devastated a nation and caused immeasurable loss of life. Thankfully, the world has responded en masse. Donations, supplies, and aid workers have flown in from all corners of the world to help ease human suffering.

Imagine a dark, dank, cavernous yet cramped space. The air inside hangs heavy; the heat lingers. Each busy day can usher in as many as 1000 people, although the average height of the chamber measures only about 12 ft.

Everyone here at CyArk has been gearing up for the SPAR 2010 conference in Houston, TX next week. For those of you who don't know, SPAR 2010's focus is "all about the business and technology of capturing, managing and integrating 3D information.

Last week field work began on our much anticipated San Antonio Missions project. This project, announced last December, involves the digital documentation of 4 of the Missions of San Antonio as well as the oldest continually used aqueduct in North America.

In light of the recent tragic events in Haiti, ICOMOS President Gustavo Araoz has circulated the following call to action. In response to this call, CyArk is asking all those interested in joining volunteer laser scanning teams to contact Elizabeth.

Rising above the plains of western New Mexico is a series of sandstone bluffs called El Morro, Spanish for ‘the headlands’. The location of a stable water source, it became a popular pit-stop along the trails crisscrossing the American southwest: a temporary campground for hundreds of souls throughout the centuries.

About the Author Parveen Talpur is a New York based writer and historian. Her research at Cornell University (1990-97) focused on the decipherment of Moen jo Daro seal symbols. The results of her research are published in the Wisconsin Archaeological Reports, Vol 3, 1994, Department of Anthropology University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Surveying techniques range from simple manual methods to remote sensing instruments capable of millimeter precision. The choice of survey device depends on the type of information needed and the corresponding degree of accuracy that is required.

Primary Sources: Wikipedia: GPS and Wikipedia: GNSS The Global Positioning System, usually called GPS (the US military refers to it as NAVSTAR GPS - Navigation Signal Timing and Ranging Global Positioning System), is a fully operational satellite navigation system as of 2006.

Primary Source: Wikipedia: Remote Sensing In the broadest sense, remote sensing is the measurement or acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, by a recording device that is not in physical ontact with the object.

For most endangered heritage sites, the first tool required for preservation and restoration is a reliable, accurate site survey. Terrestrial LiDAR (aka 3D Laser Scanning, aka High Definition Survey) technologies provide 3D survey data that is more accurate and more economically produced than information from surveys using traditional techniques.

In computer graphics and cinematography, high dynamic range imaging or photography (HDR for short) is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures than normal digital imaging techniques.

Primary Source: Wikipedia: Panoramic Photography Panoramic photography is a style of photography that aims to create images with exceptionally wide fields of view, but has also come to refer to any photograph that is cropped to a relatively wide aspect ratio.

This December I experienced an incredibly packed 5 days of Scottish heritage. As part of the Scottish 10, I traveled to Scotland to become more familiar with the 5 Scottish sites to will be included in the project.

Field work has just ended and I am currently in Mexico with our Director of Projects, Liz Lee, and CyArk partner (and friend) Frank Collazo of Leica Geosystems HDS. We have come to the wonderous site of Teotihuacan in collaboration with Mexico's INAH and the World Monuments Fund in order to Digitally Preserve the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl.

With the help of our partners and the support of people like you, CyArk has made 8 new projects available on our website in the past year. Among others, these projects include the oasis city of Ancient Merv, the stone moai of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), the Kasubi Tombs in Uganda, and the Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban.

CyArk is proud to announce our upcoming project with the National Parks Service to digitally preserve the Missions of San Antonio. Our work at the National Historic Park will include the missions Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepción de Acuna, San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, San Juan de Capistrano, San Francisco de la Espada, as well as the Espada Aqueduct.

CyArk would like your help determining how to best display our new 3D models. These light-weight site representations are a great visualization tool for teachers, students, and researchers, and enable exciting new opportunities to showcase sites as they were originally built.

In the prior chapters of this CyArk blog series, we have talked about the idea of the year 2012: What it means to modern people, and what it may have meant to the Classic Period Maya of Central America.

As part of the preparatory work for the Mt. Rushmore Digital Preservation project, this week I traveled to Rapid City South Dakota. The purpose of the trip was to meet with park staff as well as our local partners on the project Wyss and Associates and Respec Engineering to discuss the establishment of a park-wide survey control network.

This entry is Section C of the three-section Part IV of the 2012 Blog Series from CyArk (click here for Section A and here for Section B)...Yes, that is a bit convoluted, but so is the Maya calendar itself (at least to our eyes), so be aware that these entries are a bit challenging - You could also stick to the Bold Text if you want a quick overview.

This is Section B of the three-section Part IV of the 2012 Blog Series from CyArk (click here for Section A)...Yes, that is a bit confusing, but so is the Maya calendar - at least to our eyes. Be aware that these next two entries are going to be a bit challenging.

CyArk and partners Historic Scotland and Glasgow School of Art were featured in a New York Times article entitled Scots Aim Lasers at Landmarks, written by Michael Kimmelman. The article discusses the Mount Rushmore project, and also expounds on the Rosslyn Chapel and Stirling Castle projects.

We have discussed some aspects of the public fascination, hype and hysteria surrounding the upcoming date of December 21 (or 23!), 2012 over the previous posts in this series: Introduction, Millenarianism, and Pan-Shamanism.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of a new data set to the CyArk Archive. Working with Historic Scotland, the Digital Design Studio at the Glasgow School of Art, and the Rosslyn Chapel Trust, CyArk will be disseminating 3D data of the chapel collected as part of a digital documentation project.

CyArk is very pleased to announce the development of a new partnership with Pointools. The UK-based company creates high-end point cloud editing and rendering software. We are excited to be working closely with the Pointools team in our continued efforts to improve the quality of our data as well as expand our ever-growing international Partner Network.

The Give a Point Cloud, Get a Point Cloud contest is mostly for those attending the Leica Geosystems User Conference this past week. But really, anyone can enter if they'd like. The rules are really simple: Send a jpeg, tiff, gif, png, or any other image file to me at dan.

The two prior entries to the 2012: Truth, Fiction, and the Popular Imagination blog series introduced us to some questions surrounding the year 2012 and began to explore some of the sources of confusion as to what it means, starting with Millenariansm.

That’s right, I’m out of the CyArk office and out in the field. Over the last few months while I have been working part time in the CyArk offices, I have also been working from a distance to complete a research based Masters in Archaeology and Heritage from University of Leicester.

On October 13th at 7:30 pm PDT, the local San Francisco Bay Area station KQED will air a segment about CyArk's work at Chichén Itzá as part of the Maya Skies project. The story will air on KQED 9 & KQED HD on Comcast 709.

Last week the World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced their biennial "Watch List" for 2010. Every two years the WMF releases a list of the world's 100 most endangered sites, be they endangered from excess tourism, environmental impacts, war, development, or other issues, in order to bring attention to he sites' needs.

With this second installment of 2012: Truth, Fiction, and the Popular Imagination (Part One - Introduction was last week's blog), we turn our gaze towards our own perceptions of The End Of The World as a phenomenon.

You may or may not have noticed CyArk's presence in a few new places around the web. We have begun making a concerted effort to reach out to a broader internet audience by spreading the CyArk mission on social sites like Twitter and Facebook.

In only 3 weeks CyArk will be joining other enthusiastic laser scanning experts from around the world at the annual Leica HDS Worldwide User Conference in San Ramon, CA. The conference will take place at San Ramon Marriot from October 26-28, 2009.

This is the first post of a multi-part blog series from CyArk on the 2012 phenomenon that has exploded across popular literature, the internet, television, and now film. As the date itself has its base in an ancient calendar of the Maya people of Central America, we hope to provide an archaeological/anthropological critique of the phenomenon and perhaps clear up some misconceptions.

The CyArk 3D Point Cloud Viewer is a powerful tool that allows you, the user, to interact within a 3D model space. This enables anyone to view our 3D point cloud data in true 3D. This application has been available on our site for some time now, and comes in two versions.

Hello from Fort Laramie (and Torrington), Wyoming! CyArk is currently in the field working to Digitally Preserve the Fort Laramie National Historic Site. Fort Laramie was once an important hub point for the American expansion into the west.

Welcome to Take Five, a new blog feature in which your host, Lili, showcases CyArk's top five photos in a given theme. Today we take a few looks at religious imagery from around the world: Germany, Cambodia, Egypt, Italy, and Brazil.

The idea of recycling is far more ancient than many would think. For millennia, people have reused everything; metal, clothing, and yes, even ancient monuments. Current trends in archaeological thought revel in the idea of an archaeological landscape: one which has been built up over millennia, interacting with culture after culture, each of whom has left their mark on a site or collection of sites.

Ever hear the old joke about the man who tried to forge ancient coins, but got caught when scholars noticed they were stamped “52 BC”? Archaeologists hear this joke and give a wistful sigh. If only it were so simple! If only every excavated find came with a tag, complete with the date it was built or created! No more messing around with radioactive isotopes and the carbon cycle; no more bickering between professors over whether a certain type of bowl belongs to the Late Minoan IIIA or IIIB period.

Recently CyArk has been fortunate to grow in our work force through the generous contributions of our volunteers. They have all greatly increased our productivity and have proven invaluable to us during a time of growth and flux as we gear up for some impressive new partnerships—including the globally covered, upcoming Mt Rushmore Digital Preservation project.

Once again CyArk will be working closely with the Spar conference to organize a heritage session for their upcoming 2010 conference. The conference will take place in Houston, TX February 8-10, 2010. Spar is the leading conference on 3D Imaging & Positioning.

A series of devastating fires near Athens, Greece, have burned scores of homes and tens of thousands of hectares of pine forest and olive groves. They also placed several important archaeological sites in grave jeopardy, according to Greek officials.

There is some heritage and culture that cannot be laser scanned into 3D images. Music has its own distinct and emotional cultural legacy, and it was composer Dr. Albert Ssempeke who used his knowledge of royal music to capture the essence of Bugundan tradition.

CyArk has recently received press for our upcoming digital preservation of Mount Rushmore in the UK's Guardian, The New Zealand Herald, and on NewsCred. We are pleased with the great coverage but would like to address a common mistake in all three articles.

Time is relative. Different cultures around the world record time in different fashions. According to the Gregorian calendar, it is the year 2009 AD. But according to the Hebrew calendar it is 5769.

In February of 2009, a joint effort between Provide Solutions, LLC and Plowman Craven brought Mr. Scott Cedarleaf to Kampala, Uganda. There, he conducted a Digital Preservation project at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Tombs of the Bugandan Kings at Kasubi.

With the popularization of scientific analysis on television shows like CSI and Law and Order, it seems science can tell us everything these days. It can solve every crime and decipher every riddle. Partial fingerprints? No problem, they’ll catch the baddie with reconstructed prints.

Catherine Cullen of AOL News wrote an article about CyArk's partnership with the National Parks Service and Historic Scotland, and the upcoming digital preservation of Mt. Rushmore. "People may be used to seeing work done on Hollywood faces, but some other famous faces undergoing a laser treatment may come as a surprise.

Rapa Nui, a small volcanic island and province of Chile more commonly known as Easter Island, is home to one of humanity's most enigmatic and instantly-recognizable archaeological landscapes. First settled by Polynesian colonists during the first millennium C.

With the launch of Rapa Nui this afternoon, CyArk celebrates the 25th project to be digitally preserved and made publicly available via the web. We thought this silver anniversary of sorts called for a bit of celebration and perhaps a history lesson.

Jeff Martin wrote an article in USA Today about the upcoming Digital Preservation of Mount Rushmore. "The stoic faces of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln will never know what hit them.

A visit to the Bavarian city of Weißenburg is like taking a step back in time. There are ancient Roman ruins to be explored, Renaissance influences to be experienced, and Gothic architecture to be examined.

Although it’s taken much of the world quite some time to jump on the conservation bandwagon, it seems the Classic Mayan civilization was practicing good environmental management policies well before the 7th century AD.

The University of San Francisco, my alma mater, has been steadily making remarkable improvements to a number of the buildings on campus since my graduation in 2006. The newly renamed Kalmonowitz Hall is one such building.

Lieca N. Hohner, Chief Editor at Spar Point Research wrote a glowing editorial about the combined efforts of the National Parks Service, Historic Scotland, and CyArk at Mount Rushmore. "The agreement deserves applause for a number of reasons.

Amidst the Independence Day celebrations at Mt. Rushmore, another event with international implications was taking place. Almost 10 hours before the famous fireworks, a special press conference was held in Borglum's Sculptor's studio.

Kurt Repanshek, at National Parks Traveler, posted substantial coverage regarding CyArk's recent presence at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. "Digital mapping. This relatively new technology is a boon to archaeologists and preservationists.

Jeremy Fugleberg of Rapid City Journal wrote a solid summary of the events unfolding at Mount Rushmore, and CyArk's partnerships with Historic Scotland and the National Parks Service. "MOUNT RUSHMORE -- Mount Rushmore National Memorial is set to get a three-dimensional digital recording, park officials announced Friday.

CyArk received international press coverage when Christopher Mackie of The Scotsman, a Scottish newspaper, reported about our recent efforts at Mount Rushmore. "The Scottish Ten project, which will begin in September and is expected to last five years, is part of a larger effort by CyArk, a US non-profit organisation, to digitally capture 500 of the world's most significant heritage sites.

CyArk is pleased to announce the web-launch of our latest project, the Zapotec capital of Monte Albán, Mexico. This project was made possible through the generous collaboration of the Instituto Nacional de Antroplogía e Historia (INAH) of Mexico.

We at CyArk, love 3D and maps; especially when those two things involve cultural heritage. I've compiled a list below of some of the best 3D models of World Heritage Sites and historic locations that are currently in Google Earth.

In May 2008 a highly skilled 3D survey team from the German firm Christofori und Partner travelled to the historic city of Regensburg, Germany. Regensburg has over 1000 historic landmarks within its ‘old city’, which has led to this important cultural center being enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Conceptual Data Capture In 1997, Paul Debevec published a paper about how to digitally create high dynamic range images for rendering surfaces. This paper is very technical and includes the algorithm equations used to recover the film/camera response curve used to nonlinearly map pixel values found in standard images in order to produce true, absolute radiance values in HDRI.

It is often difficult to capture the beauty of a site with drawings and photographs alone. This is why animations are often helpful for viewers to get a sense of the space and relation of objects to one another.

Work finished a little earlier than expected so I decided to take an opportunity to do an official blog from the field during a late breakfast at the hotel. I am writing from Arles, a small historic town in the Provence region of southern France.

High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI) is a process which involves taking multiple photographs, each exposed differently (eg, ‘bracketing’), and then using special computer software to combine these photos into a new, composite image which has a greater ‘tonal range’ than any of the individuals photographs are capable of having due to the limitations of film or digital sensors.

On May 8, 2009 officials in the Ancash region of Peru announced the discovery of stone tenon heads estimated to be 4,000 years old. The tenon heads were discovered in the Huaylas district at an archaeological site near the town of Chupacoto.

Below Rome, Italy, burrowed into the soft yet durable volcanic tufa rock, are over 170km (105 miles) of winding catacombs. There are over 40 individual catacombs, dating back two millennia, which were carved out as protected burial sites for the religiously persecuted--the Christians, Jews, and Pagans--during a span of over three centuries.

In only its second year, the Digital Documentation conference, coordinated by the Digital Design Studio at the Glasgow School of Art and in association with Historic Scotland, Leica Geosystems, Hexagon Metrology, Glasgow City Council and CyArk, more than doubled in size and played host to delegates and speakers from around the world.

Last week I had the honor of representing CyArk at the ATHENA project kick-off meeting in Amman Jordan. I only spent three days in the country but I had a wonderful experience meeting new partners and exploring some of the heritage sites.

In October 2008, Archaeology Magazine's Deputy Editor Eric Powell accompanied the CyArk team to digitally preserve the Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban, just outside Oaxaca, Mexico. Archaeology Magazine had wanted to write an article on CyArk for some time, and the Monte Alban project proved to be the perfect opportunity.

On April 6, 2009, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake occurred in the central Italian region of Abruzzo. The quake is the deadliest earthquake to strike Italy since 1980. L'Aquila, capital city of Abruzzo, and surrounding villages have sustained significant damages and losses.

Two of the largest conferences of their kind were held back-to-back this year in the United States. The Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) conference is one of the largest, bringing together high-tech archaeologists from around the world.

Ten days ago at the archaeological site Adamkayalar in the Şeytan Valley of Turkey, a group of looters damaged eleven rock-wall relief niches when they detonated dynamite. The Mersin University Klikia Archaeological Research Center has reported the situation on their website and to local police.

In March 2009, I travelled within the SF Bay Area to a shipyard in Alameda, CA. There I met with a team from UC Berkeley’s Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) consisting of Dr. Shakhzod Takhirov and Mr.

We are proud to announce the launch of our new Knowledgebase on the CyArk website. We are striving to make the new knowledgebase a resource for information on techniques and technologies used to digitally preserve the world's cultural heritage.

The abstract puts it best when it says, "Although terrestrial 3D laser scanning is being used increasingly for a wide range of applications, no laser scanning system on the market is suitable for all applications.

The International council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has an international committee dedicated to the documentation of cultural heritage; named CIPA (the International Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage), it was created in collaboration with the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS).

The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) is an NGO dedicated to helping the advancement of knowledge and research in remote sensing, photogrammetry, and spatial technologies whilst harboring these technologies' abilities to promote human and environmental sustainability.

English Heritage's Heritage 3D project researched and collected information and data from workshops and case studies while participating in steering committees to produce this beginner's guidance manual for architects and archaeologists wishing to employ 3D technologies as a data collection tool.

In conjunction with the Heritage 3D "Advice and guidance to users on laser scanning in archaeology and architecture" beginner's guide, this more-detailed publication outlines specific standards for clients and contractors using 3D terrestrial laser scanning as a data capture tool with English Heritage projects.

Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) partners with the University of California at Davis' AHMCT department for various projects. Together, they conducted an equipment test of multiple time-of-flight scanners with their own vendor-neutral, independently developed testing methods.

The following link will take you to the case studies contributed to the Heritage3D project by associates. Each case study is individually available in PDF format. The multitude of case studies include a wide range of scanning subjects, from rock art and graffiti, to Classical and Egyptian statues, landscapes, artifacts, eartworks, and underground sites.

This paper investigates the accuracy of multiple laser scanning systems and was conducted in 2003 by i3mainz (the Institute for Spatial Information and Surveying Technology at the University of Applied Sciences, Mainz, Germany).

HafenCity University Hamburg's Department of Geomatics investigated the quality of measurements obtained with multiple laser scanners. For the time-of-flight scanner test, they employed the: Trimble GX Leica ScanStation For the the phase scanner test they employed the: Z+F IMAGER 5006 Faro LS880 HE The study tested the scanners distance accuracies, accuracy of inclination, the laser's angle of incidence's effect on 3D accuracy, an investigation of scanner noise, and an investigation of an object's color's affect on distance.

This is the short promotional brochure for the Leica ScanStation 2 terrestrial laser scanner (in US English). It does not provide technical specifications of the equipment; for this, please see the data sheet.

Data Sheet (technical specifications, etc.) for the Leica ScanStation 2 terrestrial laser scanner (in US English). This data sheet will provide all the specs such as laser range, speed, density/resolution, equipment tolerances (eg, weather), physical dimensions, etc.

Data Sheet (technical specifications, etc.) for the Leica ScanStation terrestrial laser scanner (in US English). This data sheet will provide all the specs such as laser range, speed, density/resolution, equipment tolerances (eg, weather), physical dimensions, etc.

Data Sheet (technical specifications, etc.) for the Leica HDS6000 terrestrial laser scanner (in US English). This data sheet will provide all the specs such as laser range, speed, density/resolution, equipment tolerances (eg, weather), physical dimensions, etc.

Promotional brochure for the Leica HDS6100 terrestrial laser scanner (in US English). It does not provide technical specifications of the equipment; for this, please see the data sheet. For other language options, go here: http://www.

Data Sheet (technical specifications, etc.) for the Leica HDS6100 terrestrial laser scanner (in US English). This data sheet will provide all the specs such as laser range, speed, density/resolution, equipment tolerances (eg, weather), physical dimensions, etc.

The Archaeological Data Service (hosted by the University of York) investigated the current problems associated with storing, using, and disseminating large (and increasingly larger) data sets generated by the cultural heritage field (researchers, archaeologists, and CRM).

the 3D laser Scanning Forum is dedicated to attracting members of the laser scanning community from all over the world to discuss the topic of 3d laser scanning and all it has to offer. Currently you must be a user to join the forum (in order to post/comment), but all the topics are freely accessible for non-members.

An equipment catalog for the multiple FARO scanners available with a brief description of what comes with them (eg, software bundles and software licenses) as well as accessory items such as tripod mounts and warranty information.

A two-page brochure complete with technical specifications (data sheet) for the new FARO Photo 80/20 laser scanning system, providing range, speed, size, and even laser power/wavelength information.

Data Sheet and informational brochure for the Optech ILRIS-3D laser scanning system providing information such as speed, range, physical size, operating conditions (eg operational weather conditions), sampling rate, etc.

A set of early human footprints discovered in Africa reveal that 1.5 million years ago prehistoric humans walked upright in a manner very similar to modern humans. The report was released by the journal Science and described the findings of an international team led by professor Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom.

Urbanization, the last entry in this CyArk series, is of special concern to those of us who understand the great value of cultural heritage sites. In a sense, urbanization is the reason for and the culmination of many of the ills discussed in the previous four blogs; as cities grow and develop, more and more people around the globe move from simpler, rural ways of life into modern industrialized urban ones.

On April 22nd and 23rd, the 2nd annual Digital Documentation conference will be held at the Old Fruitmarket in the heart of Glasgow's Merchant City. Digital Documentation 2009 will have twelve presenters from around the globe speaking about digital documentation, laser scanning and 2D/3D representation within the heritage and conservation sectors.

We are proud to announce the launch of Qal'at al-Bahrain on CyArk. This site was contributed to our archive by SCDS Group who collected the data in collaboration with the Kingdom of Bahrain Ministry of Culture and Information.

In the 1930s a great archaeological discovery was made: a group of tens of thousands of clay tablets, ranging from nugget-sized to place mat-sized, describing the daily internal life of the Persian Empire.

Cultural artifacts are a funny lot. They tend to move around frequently, and in doing so become ambassadors of a particular culture to the entire world. It's a wonderful thing that a child in France can learn about ancient China simply by going to a museum a few blocks from her home.

In this continuing series by CyArk, we explore just a few of the world's most endangered heritage sites in several categories, separated by the general nature of the hazards they face. This week, we take a look at the urgent problem of desertification, an under-publicized but dramatic effect of environmental degradation and climate change.

February 19th-22nd, 2009 Truro College will host the Digital Archaeology Workshops. This workshop has attracted a group of international delegates to discuss and promote the development and more widespread application of digital techniques to archaeological survey, recording, preservation and interpretation.

The annual Spar conference on 3D Imaging and Scanning will be held in Denver, Colorado, March 30- April 1. Spar is the world's best attended 3D imaging and scanning-focused conference. The conference offers sessions ranging from industrial plant manufacturing and nuclear power to new imaging technologies and civil transportation.

In this continuing series by CyArk, we explore just a few of the world's most endangered heritage sites in several categories, separated by the general nature of the hazards they face. In this week's category, Tourism, we confront a complex issue: How can we properly protect fragile sites that are so beloved by the public that their future is now at risk from overuse? Increased tourism (or the promise of it) is often the driving force behind the highest-profile efforts aimed at preserving cultural heritage sites, and it has likely saved many sites that may have been otherwise neglected or destroyed.

In this continuing series by CyArk, we explore just a few of the world's most endangered heritage sites in several categories, separated by the general nature of the hazards they face. One of the most severe and looming threats to ancient heritage is posed by the byproducts of industrial contamination of the environment in which these sites endure.

CyArk is proud to announce the launch of Nineveh on CyArk, as part of the larger Digital Nineveh Archives. Nineveh (ancient Ninua) (36°22'N 43°09'E) is situated close to the confluence of the Tigris and Khosr Rivers, within the modern city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

On January 2nd, 2009 the new Ars Electronica Center opened its doors for the first time. The "Museum of the Future" boasts 3,000 m2 of space for exhibits, including their new Deep Space exhibit. Deep Space enables visitors to travel through space and time and immerse themselves in 3D stereo universes.

This year CyArk will chair a session at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) conference to be held in Williamsburg, Virginia. As taken from their website, "The CAA is an international organization bringing together archaeologists, mathemeticians and computer scientists.

As has unfortunately been demonstrated time and time again, some of the world's greatest cultural heritage sites are critically at risk of destruction. From the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan to the Namademun Gate in South Korea to countless ancient sites in the massive area flooded by the Three Gorges Dam in China, peoples' actions and the destructive potential of natural elements have caused irreparable harm to some of the most important works that humankind has created.

Usually, when a government tries to gain UNESCO World Heritage status for one of their country's sites, they pour resources into reinforcing crumbling walls or stifling erosion. China likes to do things a little differently, however.

Spar Point Research, a leading market research group for new 3d technologies, posted an article about Hans Hess's financial support of CyArk's preservation efforts. Hans and Sylvia Hess attended our Monte Alban workshop this past October.

I have been a CyArk intern for over a year now, and I am currently a senior anthropology major at the University of California at Berkeley. I have spent my summers excavating in the Belize jungles but for the past two months I have been conducting research in the CyArk offices.

Last week I traveled to Amman, Jordan to give a paper at the Digital Media Applications in Cultural Heritage (DMACH) conference. DMACH 2008 was hosted by the Center for Study of Architecture in the Arab Region (CSAAR), and held jointly with their annual CSAAR conference.

We've recently launched a few, new features in an effort to help keep everyone informed and "in the loop" regarding CyArk's activities, news, and upcoming projects. The first and most notable edition is the news feed on the home page.

I am traveling on a southbound train to London after an exciting two day workshop at Durham University. With WiFi access on the trains I figured this was the perfect opportunity for an on-the-road blog.

This weekend CyArk held its third workshop in a series of workshops to strategize and organize the launch of an upcoming initiative. We are very pleased to announce that the Samuel H. Kress Foundation generously agreed to support this workshop.

Last week we held the inaugural CyArk development workshop at Monte Alban, Mexico. Several VIP's traveled to Oaxaca in order to learn more about CyArk and discuss future development opportunities. Among the VIP’s were Hans and Sylvia Hess, David and Lynn Olson and Professor Bernard Frischer.

Four full days in the field resulted in lots of scan data, lots of photos, and lots of scrapes and bruises but little energy left to blog. In an effort to make this the first official CyArk blog from the field, I am writing this from the airport in Mexico City.

Ben Kacyra recently presented at the 2008 Google Zeitgeist conference, an annual gathering of doers and thinkers from all over the world. His talk was included in the Serious Sustainability portion of the conference and focused on CyArk's mission of sustaining and sharing cultural heritage for future generations.

CyArk recently partnered with the University of San Francisco, Leica Geosystems, and INSIGHT to digitally reconstruct a 16th century stone portal. The portal was originally part of the monastery of Santa Maria de Ovila in northern Spain.

It's 12:30 a.m., and I'm watching a tiny green laser trace the outline of an 800-year-old Mayan pyramid—up and down, up and down. We have already been on site scanning for a couple of hours and have a couple of more to go.

The Republic of Korea has suffered the loss of one of its greatest national historic treasures. Seoul’s 610 year-old Namdaemun (Great Southern Gate) was set ablaze by an arsonist on the evening of February 10th, 2008.

Time is constantly a threat to Mesa Verde National Park. As it passes, and brings with it erosion, rock falls and possibly earthquakes, the park's ruins are at risk of collapse. But a new laser technology is providing the park with, in essence, blueprints of the ruins.

As a town so solidly rooted in 19th-century architecture, Washington, D.C., has no lack of Neoclassical flourishes—wide domes, stately columns, magnificent distances, and egalitarian symmetry. But almost as a rule, this isn’t seen in residences.

The documentation of sites of cultural heritage made a strong showing, among the usual industrial applications for laser scanning, at the Leica Geosystems User Conference held in San Ramon, California October 22-24.

I have just returned from Turkmenistan after a six-week collaboration with the Ancient Merv Project for its 2007 field season. The ongoing project by the Institute of Archaeology (IoA) at University College London (UCL) is in collaboration with the State Historical and Cultural Park Ancient Merv and this year expanded its collaboration to include the professional UK surveying firm Plowman Craven and Associates (PCA) and CyArk.

4,000 years of history lie beneath the Karakum desert in the form of the remains of an ancient city, Merv. Strategically located at an oasis along the now extinct land-based trade routes of Central Asia, Merv's site made it a great regional capital for both trade and politics for over 2,500 years.

CyArk team memebers Ben Kacyra and Elizabeth Lee recently traveled to Mesa Verde National Park as part of an on location shoot for the new PBS show, Wired Science. In addition to giving interviews about CyArk’s mission and documentation methods, the team preformed a High Definition Documentation of the alcove site Square Tower House.

Introduction Among the academics and scientists of the world, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the specifics of predicting global warming. However, there is one thing that they all agree on; global warming is happening and sea levels will rise if we continue on our current course.

CyArk announces its newest feature, a fully interactive Hazard Map showing inundation levels and plotting previously recorded earthquakes. Everyday, global warming is becoming more and more of a reality and one of the many consequences of this is glacial melt which is slowly but surely raising the current sea level.

I have been receiving questions from fellow colleagues well as the public concerning the Hazard Map. I have complied a list of a few relevant questions and have included answers for your reading pleasure.

Orinda retiree Ben Kacyra has made the biggest contribution to archeological research since Indiana Jones added the bullwhip to his field kit. Kacyra, who made his fortune as an inventor and civil engineer, has created a foundation to explore the research of a cameralike device that uses lasers to scan three-dimensional objects -- such as archaeological ruins -- to create digital blueprints accurate to within a few millimeters.

Last week the CyArk offices received a visit from San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Tom Abate. Mr. Abate is a Science and Technology writer for the Chronicle and was particularly interested in the mechanics behind the laser scanner and the innovations taking place at CyArk today.

Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of Maussollos, Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria - of the original Seven Wonders of the World, only one remains.

The CyArk 3D Heritage Archive has archived 3D digital documentation of the Bab al-Barqiyya gate of the Ayyubid Wall, part of an extensive historic preservation and development project in Cairo of the Historic Cities Support Programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).

The world is losing its important cultural-heritage sites faster than they can be preserved. Unlike artifacts, safely housed in museums or private collections, heritage sites are exposed to the ravages of time, environmental degradation, and human interventions that range from poorly managed tourism to looting and acts of war.

Orinda, Calif. - The Kacyra Family Foundation has received a grant from the U.S. National Park Service's National Center for Preservation Technology and Training for the purpose of advancing archaeology documentation methods in Mesa Verde National Park.

Global cultural heritage is being lost faster than it can be documented; and a new cultural heritage archive, CyArk, is working to slow this loss. Utilizing proprietary technology for 3D laser scans, CyArk is able to quickly document, archive, and provide online access to participating heritage sites.

"John Loomis of CyArk, a nonprofit organization dedicated toward "Preserving World Heritage Sites through collecting, archiving and providing open access to data created by laser scanning, digital modeling, and other state-of-the-art technologies", recently circulated an important announcement of interest to DDIG members.

"CyArk, the non-profit organisation which preserves endangered World Heritage sites, has put together a team of survey engineers and archaeologists to demonstrate high definition laser scanning to survey archaeological sites in Mesa Verde National Park, USA.

Conservators, architects, academics, and armchair archaeologists will soon be able to access detailed digital documentation of some of the world’s most famous cultural sites via the Web. At press time, the nonprofit Kacyra Family Foundation (KFF) was slated to launch its CyArk 3D Heritage Archive in mid-August.

Professional Surveyor Magazine has honored CyArk co-founder Ben Kacyra as one of the 25 most influential individuals in the surveying community. "As a civil engineer who taught surveying at the college level and the head of Cygna Consultants, a major architectural and engineering firm, Kacyra knew first hand the challenges of gathering accurate, complete as-built data for complex plants and facilities.

Cultural Heritage can be defined as monuments, buildings, or landscapes of "outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science." These sites are often under threat from environmental conditions, structural instability, increased tourism and development, and they are most likely under-funded, and hence, inadequately documented and maintained.

In the forests of Guatemala’s El Petén region lie the ruined cities of one of the world’s great ancient cultures, the Maya. Tikal was the largest and one of the most important urban centers of Mayan culture during its time, around 500AD.

KFF sponsored the 1st CyArk International Conference on 3D Laser Scanning Applications for Heritage which took place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Imagine a device with spiderlike tripod legs, connected to a large cube that shoots a green laser beam. The beam scans the Orinda Theatre, then boomerangs back to a wired laptop computer. No, it's not Star Wars.

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94646556565