After the fire of Notre-Dame, many have shared their photos and memories of the cathedral on the social networks. This gesture could help in the restoration of the monument. Microsoft and Iconem launch this Friday “Open-Our-Lady”, a website to collect millions of photos of the building and the model in 3D.
“The 3D designs of the American Andrew Tallon date back to 2013, however, the building has moved a tremendous amount,” explains Yves Ubelmann, architect and CEO of Iconem. This company has already reconstructed in 3D of monuments destroyed or at risk, such as the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria or the site of Pompeii in Italy from images of tourists or archives. “To obtain images of different times will also allow to better observe the evolution of the monument and better to think about its reconstruction”, he adds.
To mount his platform around of Notre-Dame, Yves Ubelmann has partnered up with Microsoft, which provides the technical infrastructure to develop a project of this scale. The algorithms Iconem, allow us to imagine a 3D object out of a million 2D images, require large capacity for calculations and storage. Some participants prestigious have already promised their support, as the photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand – who had taken aerial images of the monument — or even Ubisoft, the video game Assassin’s Creed Unity makes beautiful Notre-Dame.
the Project “open source”
shortly, anyone will be able to participate in the project by sharing his own picture on a dedicated website. “Even a souvenir photo of detail taken with the iPhone can be extremely useful,” explains Yves Ubelmann. The platform is completely “open source”, that is to say that the data are usable and editable by all. “For Microsoft, the data of the heritage belong to the whole world and it is quite naturally that we have offered our contribution to this project that we hold dear,” explains Carlo Purassanta, President of Microsoft France. From the plans re-created, researchers will be able to develop plans in cutting and to compare the evolution before and after the fire, conduct other research… Of application developers will also be able to imagine experiences of virtual reality to make wait the lovers of the building during the duration of the work.
SEE ALSO: 5 projects for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris
5 projects for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris – Watch on Figaro Live
