Dumitriu, T. C., Brânzilă, M., Baciu D. S., 2015. Preserving History. „Calcariul de la Răpidea" 3-D Virtual Tour, Iași, Romania.

Short summary

Considered to be the first Romanian geological scientific paper, “Calcariul de la Răpidea” describes an outcrop from an area that later became the first geological reserve. Geologically the area belongs to the Moldavian Platform corresponding to the Besarabian age (middle Sarmatian) and it has been a reserve since 1955. During this time period the Repedea reserve has passed through many administrative changes. It was enlarged from 0.019 km2 to 0.058 km2 as a strict preservation area and received an additional transition afforested area of 0.385 km2. Today the transition area is deforested by locals and the strict protection area is in constant destruction due to garbage disposal and stone extraction. In this paper we propose a new approach in reserve preservation and protection by creating a 3D immersive interactive virtual tour of the area with the help of “Structure form Motion” Photogrammetry, 3D modelling and game industry tools. By providing this 3D virtual tour freely over the internet we hope to raise awareness among general public and organizations.

Below you can watch some video samples from the 3D virtual tour or you can download the archived (.rar) virtual tour made with Unity3D and play with it on your personal computer.