Scan It!

I read this link about the “hidden” treasure room for the Army. The Indiana Jones aspect appealed to me or I might not have dug into this one (puns away!). There are so many items listed nobody would ever be able to see them all. I believe the museum is worthy of pursuit, but I wonder if somebody there should attempt to jump on the Smithsonian’s band wagon.

The Smithsonian can only ever display around 1% of all the treasures they have – and I think that’s sad. Something they have started doing is using a laser scanner to create 3D images they can then upload to the web so interested folks can look at / study them. The part I think is MOST cool about this is that you can down load many of the scanned models and run them through a 3D printer wherever you happen to be, creating a real version you can hold in your hand. There is something to be said for the power of holding something in your hand. Check out the things they have here: http://3d.si.edu/

Getting information out there for study is awesome. I hope the Army works something out along these lines. It seems a shame that nobody can see those things.