DEDICATE Seminar21 October 2013

Adam Frost

Introduction and operational framework

CyArk Europe is a registered charity in Scotland, number: SC044310 

Our Mission

CyArk is dedicated to the digital preservation of cultural heritage sites through the use of innovative methods,

to collect, archive, and provide open access to data created by laser scanning, digital 3D modelling, and

other state of the art technologies.

Urban SprawlPyramids at Giza, Egypt

ArsonSungnyemun Gate, Seoul, South Korea

FloodingPiazza San Marco,

Venice, Italy

Natural and anthropogenic threats

The CyArk outline

CyArk’s progressComplete or partial survey data from over 100 sites internationally

The Royal Kasubi Tombs | Uganda

The Scottish Ten project

CyArk, in partnership with Historic Scotland and the Glasgow School of Art’s Digital Design Studio aims to digitally document 5 Scottish UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 5 international cultural heritage sites.

So far, 9 cultural heritage sites have been documented, including 5 Scottish sites:

New Lanark Neolithic Orkney

The Antonine Wall

Edinburgh Old and New Town

St Kilda

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The Eastern Qing Tombs, China

Rani Ki Vav, India

Mount Rushmore, US

The Sydney Opera House, Australia

Unannounced

Working with partner countries to record 5 international sites (field data for 4 completed):

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CyArk’s operation

• Individually funded projects• Philanthropic donations• Working with partners – Skills and knowledge transfer– Dataset donation– In kind support

Data/metadata management

Digital documentation overview

Data collection

Dissemination and presentation

Processing

Consumption (deliverables)

Archival ingestion and storage

Receipt of external data

Project workflow

Handling data

• Appropriate operational best practice– Ensure file-level metadata is maintained, e.g. Exif– Consistency of RAW and lossless formats– No decimation, reduction, sub-sampling or

compression of data • Security and fixity– Storage redundancy and multiple backups– Monitor integrity of data with checksums

Data collectionDigital documentation tools and methodologies

Principal capture techniques include:- Laser scanning survey- HDR digital photography- Photogrammetry

ProcessingData-transformative workflows

Laser scanning data

• Raw scan data import• Registration (and georeferencing)• RGB colourisation• Quality assurance/control

Field capture

Output dataset

Photographic/photogrammetric

• Input image selection• Processing algorithms/software• Parameters (texture, resolution settings)• Quality assurance/control

Producing deliverables

Common project outputs and media include:

• Rendered animations• Textured 3D models• Architectural CAD

drawings (and other survey outputs)

• Interactive game environments

• Panoramic virtual tours

St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London

Digital curation

Internal projects

Deposited & donated projects

Archival ingestion

Dissemination

ArchivePractice

• Standardising dataset structure• Conversion from proprietary to open formats• Format specific conversion: e.g. Point clouds –

ASCII XYZRGB/I point data• Generating ingestion metadata

System

• Scalable 2PB LTFS with Crossroads Strongbox• Media and data integrity verification (checksum)• Periodic off-site backup to secure, underground

Iron Mountain facility• Data migration

Dissemination

• Database driven website• Embracing open access– Site multimedia released

under Creative Commons license

– Free access to 3D viewer for point cloud data and 3D models

– Lesson plans (K-12 education)• Developed own tools…

Web

• Project/site information and historical context

• Links to interactive educational content, lesson plans

• Designed to be social-media friendly, e.g. unique content URLs and comment system

SiteManager

• Bespoke web based GIS

• Embedded multimedia content with metadata from datasets

• Management with content type filters, layers, hierarchies and sub-areas

3D viewing tools

3D model & point cloud viewer

• Measurable• Perspective /

orthographic• RGB/Intensity• Clipping box

Church of St. Trophime, France

1.9m pts

338k pts

Interactive/mobile applications

Furthering the mission