MCLEAN, VA – The stoic faces of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln will never know what hit them.

This fall, crews from Scotland and California will shoot laser beams at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial as part of a project to create a digital three-dimensional model of the iconic mountain carving from all angles.

The effort, known as laser scanning, will give archaeologists and others the data needed to repair or rebuild the colossal monument in case it is ever damaged by an attack, an earthquake or some other calamity, says Navnit Singh, director of interpretation and education at Mount Rushmore.

"It's revolutionary," Singh says of the technology, pioneered by Ben Kacyra, whose California-based firm CyArk, works to digitally preserve cultural heritage sites using laser scanning and other technologies.

When completed, the digital data collected can be viewed in 3-D images from several vantage points. Long-term, Singh would like to explore the possibility of using the completed 3-D image of Mount Rushmore in one of the visitor center theaters to help educate children about the monument.

The primary reason for the efforts: Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota and other culturally significant sites worldwide are a "narrative of our human history," Singh says, but many are under increasing threats from climate change, war, natural disasters and other perils.

Long list of sites

The Statue of Liberty was among the first major monuments to undergo laser scanning in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, says Richard O'Connor, chief of the National Park Service's Heritage Documentation Programs. The park service is now similarly documenting areas on Ellis Island where immigrants first entered the USA, O'Connor says. That project is expected to continue for the next three years, he says.

The park service usually combines laser technology, which costs about $100,000 to acquire, with more traditional methods of measuring and photographing sites to create a lasting record, O'Connor says.

CyArk is working to create 3-D representations of 500 sites around the globe. The company has identified several "at-risk" places including the Acropolis of Athens (threatened by acid rain); Machu Picchu in Peru (excessive tourism); and the French Quarter in New Orleans (flooding), says Elizabeth Lee, the company's director of projects.

The Scottish government has already used the technology to create 3-D models of Scottish sites such as Stirling Castle and Rosslyn Chapel, says Scotland's minister of culture, Michael Russell.

At Mount Rushmore, Scotland will provide equipment and manpower for the laser scanning so that the process will not cost the National Park Service anything, Singh says. It is expected to take two weeks. Once completed, the Mount Rushmore 3-D data will be available to the public on CyArk's website, Lee says.

Ability to do repairs

This month, members of the environmental group Greenpeace climbed up the back side of Mount Rushmore and unfurled a large banner next to Lincoln's head, urging President Obama to help stop global warming.

That is "another reason why this project is so important to us," Singh says. "Say it was something more than a banner, something more malicious," he says. "We would have the ability to go back and do repairs."

Laser scanning measures the time it takes a laser beam to bounce back off the surface being scanned. The process will be performed at many points all around the carving, Singh says. An airplane will fly over Mount Rushmore at low altitude to record the terrain around it, he says. The result, he says, is a 3-D rendering that is accurate to less than a centimeter.

Singh envisions using the 3-D images to show students the monument from different angles that could not be seen during a typical visit's vantage points.

Valerie Krone, a kindergarten teacher at Peach Hill Academy in Moorpark, Calif., spends a week each year teaching her students about Mount Rushmore, she says.

"The kids would really love seeing something up close and personal," she says. "With young children, they like things they can touch and feel and see and maybe even walk around it."

Copyright 2009 USA Today. All rights reserved. From http://www.usatoday.com. By Jeff Martin.
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