News:
[publication]: Paper presented at the 35th Brazilian Speleological Congress
[blog post] - 3D cave project featured in FAPESP News
[video] - New video with the full point cloud (1 billion points)
[3D model] - A simplified 3D model of the cave (no textures) is now available at Sketchfab!
[3D model] - A 3D model of a large speleothem is also available at Sketchfab!
[video] - First video of the simplified point cloud (17 million points)
[blog post] - TLS mapping of Devil’s Cave
About:
In this project, we are mapping the touristic sector of the “Devil’s Cave” with Terrestrial Laser Scanner.
The Devil’s Cave, whose official name is “Tapagem Cave”, was the first Brazilian cave to be fitted with artificial illumination and concrete pathways and stairs. This kind of infrastructure for tourism, along with a nice reception center and restaurant, attracts thousands of visitors every month.
Although the entire cave is over 7km long, only the first 600m are accessible by the pathways (this is what we call the ‘touristic sector’). Recent policies implemented by the Park administration opened new ‘adventure circuits’ for tourism, stranding away from the concrete pathways and venturing into the ‘river sector’ or the ‘Erectus Hall’.
Point cloud viewed from inside the cave
And here is an interactive 3D model of the cave (via sketchfab).
A 3D model of a large speleothem.
And a short video of the point cloud.
Full map of the Tapagem Cave (SBE)
Touristic sector the Tapagem Cave (SBE)
Spammers:
Gabriel Z. Sugiura (undergrad 2018) - For his undergraduate degree monograph, Gabriel worked with TLS data to produce a 3D model of the cave. With this model, he calculate the volume of the halls as well as the size and weight of some very large speleothems. The final point cloud provided an interesting comparison with the existing maps of the cave.
Guilherme P. Bento Garcia (PhD) - Guilherme acted as co-advisor to Gabriel and worked closely with him to learn how to process the TLS data and extract all the information we wanted.
Grant:
FAPESP #2016/06628-0 - Application of high-resolution digital elevation models in geology and geomorphology.