News
Digital Geo-Referenced Imaging of the Museum Grounds
A precise digital map of the sites of the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps is the result of two days of airborne laser imaging by a specially equipped helicopter. The measurements and images will be used to make an orthophotomap, or geo-referenced aerial photo, which yields data about the terrain within the Museum grounds.
“Scanning the surface from a slowly moving helicopter makes it possible to create essential digital information that can be processed and used for a wide variety of preservationist and educational purposes,” said Preservation Department head Rafał Pióro. “We are now in possession of digital data that can serve as the basis for later applications. The top-down photographs and special visualization of the terrain will be useful in our everyday work.”
“This is a state-of-the-art technique that is only now coming into wider use,” Pióro added. “Only a few companies in Poland carry out this kind of work, and the helicopter used to take the measurements flew in from Holland.”
Similar documentation has already been carried out for the city of Cracow and the Museum in Wilanów outside Warsaw, including the whole palace-park complex. The scanning is completely harmless to people, animals, and vegetation.
Clusters of Laser Data Points
The measurements used the technically advanced FLI-MAP 400 system, which integrates very dense clusters of laser data points with high-definition digital imaging, while also recording a video image.
The data can be used to generate Digital Terrain Models (DTM), Digital Surface Models (DSM), orthophotomaps, 3-D and 2-D maps, and cross-sections of any part of the terrain.
