- Let's check out this video.
- Hi, I'm Malcolm Williamson,
I'm a Senior Research Scientist
at the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies,
better known as CAST, here at the University of Arkansas.
We have these systems that are known as Lidar,
that's Light Distance and Ranging,
that uses a laser beam to measure distances and angles
and records those as measurements
that can then become a 3D model.
The machine behind me here can actually record
up to one million measurements per second,
and it rotates around and looks in every direction,
and it's really easy to scan a cave
very accurately with this.
And so, our job is to go in and document everything
that's been added by people into that cave,
so the walkways and the elevator
and the railings and lights and things like that,
because they hope to be doing some improvements to the cave
to make it more friendly to visitors.
So we will take literally hundreds of these
at Blanchard Springs, from different locations,
because you can't see everywhere from one location
and you can't see behind the stalactite over here
and around rock over here,
so we have to move the scanner around,
and then our software will automatically
stitch these together to become a very very large file
and a big model of the cave.
So today this instrument that we've got right here
is about the most accurate way that we can map a cave.
Back to you, Amchat.