High tech race to save 500 significant world heritage sites brings together world leaders and corporate supporters

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 2014 CyArk Annual Summit, held at the National Archives in Washington, DC, brings together world leaders from over 25 countries in a stellar show of support for rapidly recording, sharing, and archiving 500 significant heritage sites in five years. These sites, and the stories they tell, connect us through generations and across cultures, but increased global instability and natural disasters threaten the future of our treasured cultural heritage.

Spurred by the Taliban's destruction of the 1600-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan, Ben and Barbara Kacyra founded CyArk in 2003 as a 501(c)3 to ensure heritage sites are available to future generations, while making them uniquely accessible today. 

"If we lose these sites, we also lose the stories they tell. Cultural heritage sites make up a piece of our collective human memory, which is why they are so important to preserve.  We are delighted to announce these new 500 projects and partnerships which demonstrate the commitment to this global effort," said Ben Kacyra.

CyArk's newest addition: The Washington Monument,
in cooperation with Iron Mountain Incorporated

At the opening session of the Summit, CyArk and Iron Mountain Incorporated will announce a new five-year partnership to support the CyArk 500. This commitment, in the form of technology services and a cash donation from Iron Mountain, underscores the shared mission of both organizations of preserving our cultural heritage for future generations by supporting projects around the world and archiving and storing the data generated through the CyArk 500 and Iron Mountain's premier archive.

Earlier this year, the organizations kicked off their collaboration with one of the most recognizable, iconic sites in Washington, DC, and in America: The Washington Monument. The effort to preserve this site was a significant undertaking, shared between CyArk, the National Park Service, and Iron Mountain. Originally constructed from 1848-1854 and 1876-1884, the Washington Monument stands 555 feet tall, is made of marble, and honors the first President of the United States. As of today, visitors to the CyArk website will be able to explore the monument in 3D, including rare glimpses into the interior of the monument.

CyArk Historic Cities Program includes New Orleans and Philadelphia,
in cooperation with HERE

CyArk has also teamed with HERE, a global leader in mapping, navigation and location intelligence to create a "Historic Cities Program" -- virtual 3D replicas of entire selected cities, starting with the historic districts of New Orleans and Philadelphia. With the replicas, HERE and CyArk hope to not only allow future generations to see what it's like to walk the streets of these historic cities in realistic, 3D detail, but also to aid in the preservation of these districts by providing architects a model for use in restoration projects.

CyArk partnered with HERE, a Nokia company, because of the company's ability to capture highly accurate models of the real world with its global fleet of TRUE vehicles. Using advanced laser technology to create maps for the world, HERE is enabling CyArk to more rapidly achieve its 500 mission by capturing entire cities rather than individual sites with speed and precision. Every week, HERE-branded TRUE vehicles around the world capture 100 terabytes of data, 108 billion 3D data points, 9.5 million images and more than 30,000 miles of roads down to centimeter level precision. Earlier this year, HERE dispatched its fleet to New Orleans and Philadelphia to capture this data, resulting in engineering-grade information that CyArk used to create realistic, 3D replicas of the two cities, which anyone can explore via CyArk's website. Over the coming year, HERE will dispatch its TRUE vehicles to additional historic cities around the world for CyArk's preservation mission.

On track to complete CyArk 500 Challenge

The CyArk 500 Challenge is the 3D scanning and digital preservation of 500 world heritage sites over five years, started in the fall of 2013. The 2014 Summit will announce the newest sites nominated to the 500, including: the Ancient City of Damascus in Syria, Quirigua in Guatemala, and the Medieval Palace of Visegrad in Hungary. The new sites are located in 14 countries on five different continents. CyArk has already completed nearly 70 projects, including: Easter Island or Rapa Nui in Chile, Chichen Itza in Mexico, and Ancient Thebes in Egypt.

CyArk will also announce a new theme for the 500 Challenge – to digitally preserve sites in relation to the Atlantic Slave Trade. The joint program between CyArk and Trimble Navigation kicked off with digitally recording historic structures within the city of Natchez, Mississippi.

The world's culture comes to life in your browser,
in cooperation with Microsoft Internet Explorer

CyArk also unveiled a new website in partnership with Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) that brings global heritage sites to the web featuring stunning immersive 3D WebGL models, advanced touch functionality, and exceptional performance benefitted by IE's pioneering work in hardware acceleration to deliver app-like experiences in a web browser.

The new CyArk.org is fast, dynamic, and built for touch on the modern web. This next generation technology will allow from all over the globe incredible access to 3D models, images and videos of some of the most amazing places on earth.  The initial release includes new stunningly detailed 3D models from sites as diverse as Mount Rushmore in the United States, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Rani ki Vav in India, the Eastern Qing Tombs in China, the Tower of London in the United Kingdom and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

CyArk.org joins other Rethink experiences from the IE team to challenge users and developers alike on what's possible on the web today with modern web standards and browsers. These Rethink experiences are part of IE's efforts to make the web work for everyone by supporting interoperability for modern, open web standards across all browsers. For additional information on IE's collaboration with CyArk, please visit the Exploring IE blog.

CyArk's mission: Why is the 500 Challenge necessary?

Ever increasing global conflict, natural disasters, and population growth makes the need for this type of heritage preservation greater than ever. CyArk, a non-profit foundation that uses laser scanners to create digital copies of historic sites for preservation, educational use, and virtual access, will unveil the newest sites in the CyArk 500 in front of an audience of over 200 government officials, ambassadors, corporate and foundation supporters, institutional partners, concerned members of the public and reporters, among others.

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SOURCE CyArk