Bridging the past and future
Former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, has set aside £300k worth of funding for a scanning project set to begin in 2015. This project will digitally document three generations of innovative Scottish bridge engineering and design down to the last detail. Using the very latest in laser scanning technology from a range of vendors, including the ScanStation P20 by Leica Geosystems, 3D heritage specialists at The Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation LLP (a partnership between Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation (CDDV) and @scottishten), will produce a highly detailed 3D point cloud of the Forth Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge and visualisation of the new Queensferry Crossing set to open in 2016. Cutting edge laser scanners will be mounted onto cars and boats to collect points from all different angles that will be later combined to make a startlingly real 3D representation of the bridges.
This documentation will be used not only to create an extremely accurate digital map of the Forth bridges for future generations but also to provide baseline data for recording the condition of the bridges. The results of the laser scanning will be distributed to schools across Scotland, providing exciting and engaging animations for learning, and to showcase these iconic bridges on the River Forth, attracting tourists from all over the world, by visualising Scotland’s innovative engineering herit-age. Finally, the digital project will also contribute to the Management Plan for the current Forth Bridge UNESCO World Heritage bid.
Watch the video here
