I remember as a kid when my parents would take us skiing on the slopes. On our way to the ski lodge we would always pass through a ghost town. It was on old mining town. How fascinating it was to see all of those rundown buildings and houses absolutely void of anyone. Each one of those mines tells an interesting story about a time in American history when things were booming and then all the sudden abandoned. One of those abandoned mines is the Kennecott mine located in Alaska. It was, at one time, the home to thousands of people. They were a crowd who depended on the copper mining industry to make a wage.They succeeded at it. They mined over a half a million tons of copper. Now it is seen as part of out national heritage, and the U.S. National Park Service has been given the task of maintaining it. To do that, they have employed the skills of 3D laser scanning services.
The National Park Service has been given the task to make sure that the mine can be enjoyed for the generations to come. It is not an easy task, since the mine has been abandoned for such a long time. Almost 80 years of abandonment means that things have corroded. So their job is to preserve it. Time and weather has taken its toll on the wood structure. Some of the main beams and columns are not that sturdy, so they need to make sure that it does not continue to crumble. They also need to stabilize the structure so that it can become safe to enter. Finally, they must do what they can to restore it back to its original condition. When people want to take a virtual tour of this mine, they want to know what it originally looked like.
The National Park Service is using 3D laser scanning services to accomplish this job. In order get an idea of what is really going on with a structure. A lot of the work done had to do with data collection of the building itself. That includes the things inside the building, and the structure’s surrounding. 3D laser scanning services really helped the project with some solving difficult problems. For one, they were able to collect measurement data from those tall and difficult to reach areas. Traditional methods for data collection just couldn’t do it as accurately and thorough as the 3D laser scanner. It also helped them determine the borders for the mine. They had to be careful not to intrude on anyone else’s personal property.
Using 3D laser scanning services, the team that set out to do this can get to the task of restoring for us some of our history. The best thing about it is that 3D laser scanning services doesn’t just help them restore the physical building for us to go there and see. 3D laser scanning services also help preserve all historical structures like the Alaskan mine. Thanks to the U.S. National Park Service the things can be enjoyed at home. We can do a walk through of digitally scanned 3D model.