{"id":256282,"date":"2017-07-18T14:23:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T18:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=256282"},"modified":"2017-07-18T14:24:57","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T18:24:57","slug":"ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning everyday objects into digital data"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_252022\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-252022\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/discovering-ghana-251322\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-252022\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/ghana-blog-title.jpg\" alt=\"Image of a Ghanaian fort with the test DISCOVER GHANA\" width=\"350\" height=\"249\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-252022\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Follow the stories of seven University of Rochester students studying the engineering, architecture, archaeology, and culture of the coastal forts of Ghana.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"lighter\"><em>Eight University of Rochester students are participating in a\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/rochester-sa.terradotta.com\/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&amp;Program_ID=10251\">field school in Ghana\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>this summer, studying\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/en\/list\/34\">historic coastal forts<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0built as early as the 15<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0century, with particular emphasis on Elmina Castle. Led by Professors Renato Perucchio, Michael Jarvis, and Chris Muir, and teaching assistant William Green, the students are studying the engineering, historical, and cultural aspects of these structures; visiting other points of interest in Ghana \u2013 and sharing their experiences in this blog.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the more memorable events that happened in our third week in Ghana was our trip to Kakum National Park. Kakum is a tropical rainforest that was established as a national park in 1992. Kakum National Park features a canopy walkway about 350 meters long and 40 meters above the rainforest terrain.<\/p>\n<p>Our tour guide Naomi pointed out that this rainforest was home to endangered species such as African elephants and the Diana monkey. Kakum National Park also hosts over 266 species of birds. The fact that the local people, many of whom are living in poverty, took such initiatives to preserve such a space for the animals is inspiring. If they can do something like this, why not the rest of us? There is something special about observing and connecting with nature the way we did. The feeling of standing 40 meters above a tropical rainforest and just listening to all the sounds around you is an incredible experience.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the week, Professor Jarvis introduced us to photogrammetry. Photogrammetry is the process of mapping and surveying a field of vision with digital single-lens reflex, or DSLR, cameras. I found this introduction especially important. I believe the beauty behind photogrammetry is not about the results, but about the process of creating millions of different points from pictures taken. Having the points later mesh into a solid, all through a computer program, is simply amazing.<\/p>\n<p>It amazed me how everyday objects can be transformed into digital data and eventually displayed in such detail in the virtual world. The first introduction to photogrammetry really reminds me how advanced and accessible technology has become over the years. Photogrammetry used to be only available to the army and is now available to the public. I feel incredibly privileged to be introduced to such a powerful tool and taught how to use it.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_256492\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-256492\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-256492 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"walking across rope bridge in the trees\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-256492\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The canopy walkway at Kakum National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-256482\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Entrance-to-Hiking-Trailjpg-1.jpg\" alt=\"entrance sign to a park and hiking trail\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-256472\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Canopy-walk-1.jpg\" alt=\"walking across rope bridge in the trees\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-256462\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Views-from-Kakum-1.jpg\" alt=\"walking across rope bridge in the trees\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_256602\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-256602\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-256602\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Screen-Shot-2017-06-21-at-19.41.17.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshop of image of a building created by lots of small data points.\" width=\"600\" height=\"332\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-256602\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot shows photogrammetry in action.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Alan Xu \u201918 is a mechanical engineering major.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mechanical engineering student Alan Xu \u201918 is introduced to the power of photogrammetry  &#8212;  along with the power of nature &#8212;  during his summer research trip to Ghana. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":256492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23312,25152,19242,18632],"class_list":["post-256282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-department-of-mechanical-engineering","tag-ghana","tag-global-engagement","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Turning everyday objects into digital data<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Turning everyday objects into digital data\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mechanical engineering student Alan Xu \u201918 is introduced to the power of photogrammetry -- along with the power of nature -- during his summer research trip to Ghana.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-18T18:23:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-18T18:24:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"headline\":\"Turning everyday objects into digital data\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-18T18:23:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-18T18:24:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":447,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Mechanical Engineering\",\"Ghana\",\"global engagement\",\"Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/\",\"name\":\"Turning everyday objects into digital data\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-18T18:23:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-18T18:24:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":338,\"caption\":\"walking across rope bridge in the trees\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Turning everyday objects into digital data\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"University of Rochester\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\",\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/bmarcotte\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Turning everyday objects into digital data","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Turning everyday objects into digital data","og_description":"Mechanical engineering student Alan Xu \u201918 is introduced to the power of photogrammetry -- along with the power of nature -- during his summer research trip to Ghana.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2017-07-18T18:23:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-07-18T18:24:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg","width":600,"height":338,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Marcotte","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Marcotte","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Marcotte","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"headline":"Turning everyday objects into digital data","datePublished":"2017-07-18T18:23:24+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-18T18:24:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/"},"wordCount":447,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg","keywords":["Department of Mechanical Engineering","Ghana","global engagement","Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/","name":"Turning everyday objects into digital data","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg","datePublished":"2017-07-18T18:23:24+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-18T18:24:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Axu_Canopy-View-2-1.jpg","width":600,"height":338,"caption":"walking across rope bridge in the trees"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ghana-turning-everyday-objects-into-digital-data-256282\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Turning everyday objects into digital data"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"University of Rochester","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b","name":"Bob Marcotte","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/bmarcotte\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256282"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256632,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256282\/revisions\/256632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}