Reconstruction and visualisation of historic underwater objects at the example of S.S. Terra Nova

This article deals with the reconstruction and visualisation of the former expedition ship S.S. Terra Nova. A data set consisting of historic photographs and a construction plan of the S.S. Terra Nova is used for the reconstruction. Bathymetry data recorded during a research cruise in 2017 show the wreck of the vessel. The vessel is reconstructed in its original state by employing different modelling approaches. Besides CAD-modelling also the Structure-from-Motion technique is used. By digitising the information of the construction plan the CAD-model is created. The historical photographs are combined in the Structure-from-Motion process and enable the processing of a point cloud of the vessel. An overlay of the resulting models and the bathymetry data is an important part of this article. This overlay is carried out in terms of the identification of the wreck and to examine the usability of the models. Subsequently the models as well as the wreck are visualised in different ways. A categorisation of the visualisations for different user groups is part of the discussion at the end of this article.

bathymetry | reconstruction | visualisation | wreck | Terra Nova | Structure-from-Motion | CAD modelling