Over the past decade there has been a revolution in survey and mapping with the advent of LiDAR imaging technology.  LiDAR scanners mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer a method of rapid data capture that creates detailed regional images of anthropogenic and natural landscapes to generate high-resolution relief models of ground surfaces.  While this method has radically changed the imaging of terrestrial environments, these systems often require Global Positioning System guidance systems to fly and navigate.  Contexts described as GPS-denied, which include subterranean spaces such as caves, rockshelters, mines, or building interiors, have seen limited use of LiDAR/UAV technologies due to this limitation. These types of sites are often under threat of destruction and cultural heritage loss.  With the development of new technologies, it is now possible to record and create 3D reconstructions enabling greater capacities for research and ensuring that they will be digitally preserved for the future.

This MRI Track 1 award to the University of California, Merced, was used to acquire the Emescent Hovermap, a hand-held and UAV-based Light Detection and Ranging Velodyne LiDAR with a proprietary SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) and processing system. Designed for the mining industry, the Hovermap is a robust tool that enables rapid capture and visualization of complex topologies. This new technology allows for multiple on-demand surveys and on-the-fly opportunistic data collection that build capacity for the rapid capture of complex subterranean/indoor contexts such as caves, rockshelters, or building interiors as well as terrestrial landscapes and surface architecture, producing representations to be employed in research that depends on accurate spatial data capture and imaging. The system allows for progressive LiDAR scanning while walking through constricted or confined spaces with the unit in hand, with plug-and-play transition to drone-based scanning as terrain and environments require. To go from landscape to interior space or subterranean chamber (e.g., city block to elevator shaft) within a single seamless scanning project is game-changing. The system has propriety software that will stitch multiple images from each modality creating a high-resolution 3D image.

The University of California, Merced in partnership with the University of California, San Diego Qualcomm Institute are collaborating on multiple projects both in the United States and internationally. It has become increasingly imperative for archaeology and archeologists to not just think about today's research, but also to ensure the protection of sites for the future. One of the impacts enabled by our collective projects is in heritage preservation and management. Archaeological sites are under threat and in need of more sophisticated and rapid recording methods for digital preservation. Not only does this disrupt or destroy the archaeological record, but it is damaging to the cultural heritage of indigenous people and the growing tourist industry in many countries. Specific examples are from projects in Central America and California. Team leader Dominique Rissolo's project area on the Caribbean coast of Mexico is one of the most rapidly developing tourism landscapes in the world. In collaboration on the Maya Tren project with the Mexican governmental organization INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia) by deploying the Hovermap system, we were able to rapidly and accurately capture disappearing archaeological resources, virtually preserving the record for future generations.

As Moyes can attest from 25 years of work in Belize, due to population growth and deforestation caves are perpetually under threat from looting and vandalism. These important cultural heritage sites for both Maya people and the country of Belize are located in remote areas, impossible to protect except by digital preservation. Working with the Belize Institute of Archaeology, we recorded 12 caves in 2022 and 2023 using the Hovermap system. High resolution scanning and 3D recording provide a "snapshot" of the sites and their contents as they exist today that will serve as a digital reference database for site management and future research far superior to digitized paper maps in terms of accuracy, precision, and dimensionality.

Closer to home, in a project funded by the Luce Foundation, our team is working with the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation to record and produce digital twins of endangered rock art sites in Mariposa and Merced counties. By valorizing these sites, their importance to the Miwuk Nation will be demonstrated and elevated, reifying the community's deep cultural heritage and bringing awareness to the community itself as well as other local groups.

These projects include training opportunities for students and local community partners as well.  We have trained graduate students from the University of California, Merced so that they may use these data in their own projects and teach undergraduates in the classroom setting. Currently, undergraduate students at UC Merced are engaged in paid research projects in which they collect and process Hovermap data. Additionally, we have provided training on the equipment for in country partners, mostly students and young professionals in Belize and Mexico.

Last Modified: 09/28/2023
Modified by: Holley Moyes