The Brandenburg Gate has been digitally mapped using lasers — just a day before the 25th anniversary of the German reunification.
The digital map was created by digital archive organization CyArk and its partners, which used laser scanning to produce an extremely accurate record of the gate, which will be used for both conservation efforts and for education.
"Digitally preserving the Brandenburg Gate is important because this structure is more than a municipal monument, it is an icon of this city and country," said Elizabeth Lee, vice president of CyArk, in a statement.
After the scanning process is complete, the data captured from the lasers – along with other photo, video and even audio data – is sent back to CyArk's servers. The technical team at CyArk is then able to access the data, after which they render it into 3D images.
The sheer amount of data is pretty astounding, with the team capturing the equivalent of 1 million high-quality photos.
The project to scan the Brandenburg Gate is just one in a series of projects aimed at preserving monuments around the world, especially those that are in danger of being destroyed at some point in the near future, such as those in embattled areas of the Middle East.
