Cultural Heritage

The wanton destruction of significant cultural sites in the Near East by ISIS terrorists remind us how important it is to preserve—at least digitally—these symbols of cultural consciousness for future generations and to make them accessible to the general public. There are several crews equipped with 3D laser technology traveling the world to scan in statues, buildings or entire architectural ensembles and thus preserve these priceless cultural treasures for posterity. The results of these efforts are huge quantities of points—so-called point clouds—that can be displayed as three-dimensional visualizations. Deep Space 8K now lets visitors behold virtual reconstructions of historical sites in 3D and walk through them in the truest sense of the word. This is made possible by a point cloud renderer & viewer that the Ars Electronica Futurelab specially enhanced for 8K image resolution.