Exploring Europe's Shipwrecks, Virtually

An anonymous reader writes "Fancy youself as a bit of an archaeologist? This picture story shows images from a project aiming to digitally map out the shipwrecks around Europe's coasts. The plan is for people to eventually be able to take a virtual tour of the wrecks from their PC."

History

[penguin king]

Well I was initially sceptical, come on, can't people go and visit or watch videos? History should be visited, you wouldn't want to explore a museum from your armchair... right? They make a good point out that this does offer a preservation of history. I guess it also makes it more available to disabled people (and lazy ones, ones without money etc.). This could be a neat project, especially for those with an interest in old ships. I'm kinda hoping the finished project will look less computer game like and more real though, otherwise it just doesn't seem like the whole history angle is really being explored (no pun intended).

Re:

[JanneM]

You do realize, I hope, that these aren't museum ships, but actual wrecks still lying on the seabed. And not only easy to get to either, but far offshore, or in deep water. Very few people can actually visit them for real, what with the need for diving certification and equipment.

And if for some reason diving interest, ability and funding explodes over the next few years, having hordes of amateur divers swarming around the sites, picking up pieces as souverniers and so on would not be doing anything good fo

Re:

[4D6963]

you wouldn't want to explore a museum from your armchair... right?

That's right, I mean, we're all aware that "exploring" a museum brings you significantly closer to Indiana Jones than browsing the web.

can't people go and visit

Mmmh, that's a thought, remind me to go learn scuba diving and book a flight to the Mediterranean sea next time I feel the urge to know about an ancient shipwreck. I hope I can become good enough a diver to visit the Titanic myself!

Virtually? Arrghhh!

[Cyberax]

Grab your gun and make some more REAL shipwrecks!

As soon as...

[kandela]

As soon as I conquer my fear of virtual drowning I'll walk that plank.

Neat idea, but

[hcdejong]

why use a lame 'virtual submarine' UI? IMO this only limits what you can see and do. For example, photo 5 shows features of the shipwreck being obscured by submarine controls. You can't do things like zoom in with a submarine, and subs have limited maneuverability, so eventually the UI breaks down/becomes unrealistic. Other virtual worlds show that we can navigate without such clumsy avatars.

The challenge in this project is dealing with the underwater environment: photos and video are all short-range due to limited visibility. It's going to be harder to mesh these into a coherent 3D model than surface photos would be. At least they're making it a little easier by taking their own photos, instead of having to rely on existing material.