Under the feet of England there lie over 450 sandstone caves that previously belonged to nobles, lords, or butchers, and they’re rapidly deteriorating and collapsing around us. A new project is using 3D laser scanners to create some amazing maps of these, immortalizing them in their digital glory.
As part of the Caves of Nottingham Regeneration Project, the Nottingham Caves Survey is taking 3D laser scanners into the depths beneath the city to photograph the caves, survey them with the scanner and note their condition. Many of these caves have major historical significance for Nottingham and for England – the earliest written record of caves beneath what was then a Saxon settlement dates to the year 868. The project aims to protect the caves, in the hopes that they won’t simply be forgotten and allowed to deteriorate.
I love the results, they look almost like Half Life maps with the photographic details mapped onto the scanned geometry.
via Mapping the Underworld: Digital 3D Cave Exploration | WebEcoist.
