Welcome Back! In this post I will be comparing two photogrammetry projects of churches, the first church is Duke University’s chapel and the second is the Mapping Gothic France project. While both of these projects use photogrammetry on churches they were created differently and function differently.
First, I visited the Duke University chapel project. This project was created by using 1,430 photos taken by a collection of Duke architectural historians, archaeologists and archivists. The intent of the project was to create a snapshot of the restoration work that was done on the chapel. This was an important project to complete close to the completion of the restoration because it can serve as a 3D reference if future repairs are needed. From these scans exact replicas of the details of the chapel can be reconstructed.
On Duke University’s site they use Sketchfab which allows the 3D model to be fully functional. Due to this the best way to access the whole model is on the Sketchfab site. As viewers we only have acess to the finished product and don’t see any of the individual images taken of the chapel.
The second project, Mapping Gothic France, was created through Colombia University and features many gothic churches throughout France and some surrounding countries. This project shows the progression of gothic architecture in France during the 12th and 13th centuries. The first map shows all of the locations of the various churches and after selecting a specific location users can see various panoramas of the inside of the churches. This project was created by university professors with the intention of creating 3D models of Gothic churches that were accessible to all. This project has already served an important purpose by acting as a 3D blueprint after the Notre Dame in France caught fire and needed to be restored. From the project we can see the architecture within and around France that has become iconic to the region, and learn about its construction and history.
Mapping Gothic France uses coding that is made available on their website, making their methods transparent and open for future use from others. The site also provides thorough citations and explanations for the content and photos featured on the site. The site is accessible through Colombia University’s media site.
These two projects differ the most in the ways that users can operate them. For the Duke chapel users can fully move around the interior and exterior of the chapel. For the Gothic France churches users can only select one view of the church to look around the interior of the building. It also offers users more context and photos of the churches than the Duke site by offering a lot of information. The Gothic France site also features many gothic churches rather than just feature one like the Duke Chapel.
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