Preserving the Washington Monument with 3D Scanning

 

Direct Dimensions is a Baltimore company and we feel strongly about contributing to our city and community. There is no shortage of important historic sites around the Baltimore area and, when able, we help preservation efforts by documenting them. So when renovations began on the Washington Monument in the Mount Vernon neighborhood we jumped at the chance to digitally document the first national monument in honor of George Washington.

 

Our crew ascended almost 200 feet of scaffolding to get to the top of the  monument at dawn and begin 3D scanning the sculpture of George Washington. Two different scanning technologies were employed , the Faro Focus and a handheld Artec EVA scanner.

The resulting data will be kept for the City of Baltimore. It is an accurate record of the monumental sculpture as it exists in 2014 and will allow for preservation, recreation, or replication should it ever be needed.