Imagine if museum artifacts were exposed to the effects of the natural environment. Even seemingly benign factors – sun, wind and rain – would start to take their toll. Now imagine the more dramatic – earthquakes, arson, and war for example.

CyArk is a non-profit organization dedicated to digitally preserving cultural heritage sites around the world. From Mount Rushmore to Rapa Nui on Easter Island - even 2 miles down to the wreckage of Titanic - CyArk has cataloged numerous sites. They accomplish this goal with digital documentation methods and the latest 3D high definition capture tools. The results are free to the public and archived for future generations.

Here at Hexagon, we’re proud our products are playing a key role in this worthwhile cause! 3DReshaper by Technodigit, a Hexagon Metrology company, has partnered with CyArk to facilitate the meshing of point clouds from laser scan data. 3DReshaper, which is also sold under the name PC-DMIS Reshaper,  was chosen based on its robust ability to create clean, accurate meshes and it has been brought into their regular workflow for data processing and deliverables creation. Leica High Definition Scanners are also part of  CyArk's toolset to collect data on-location.

Also, CyArk is one of 7 finalists in EMC's Heritage Trust Project for their proposed work at Mission Dolores in San Francisco, CA. Help CyArk win the $15,000 prize! Click here for details.

Learn more about CyArk from their website or by watching to their founder, Ben Kacyra speak at TEDGlobal 2011 (look for the Leica High Definition Scanner):