Across Florida, historic buildings are feeling the squeeze: extreme weather and a rapidly growing population, which demands more housing and more infrastructure, can lead to the effacement of sites that hold pieces of the state’s history.
In Plant City, Fla., at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, Geomatics students led by instructor Ali Gonzales Perez are working to digitally preserve local historic buildings using terrestrial Lidar, or laser scanning. If the buildings are damaged, destroyed, or demolished, these digital replicas can be used to restore, rebuild, or remember.
Lidar technology was behind the recent reconstruction of the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Laser scanners work by sending out rapid pulses of light, which bounce off an object and travel back to a set of sensors that then capture detailed data about the object’s size and dimensions. The result is a high-resolution, three-dimensional digital model of a physical object that can be used as a reference point for restoration or reconstruction.
Laser scanning is now commonly used in historic preservation. It provides highly accurate data on historic structures, even capturing sagging walls and floors, large surface cracks, and other flaws. The lasers are operated from a distance, which brings an added safety benefit when working with unsound structures.
The Geomatics department at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center acquired the terrestrial Lidar scanner in 2023. Looking to give his students meaningful hands-on experience with the technology, Gonzales Perez began reaching out to city officials and others who manage local historic properties, asking for permission to scan the buildings. The project not only gives his students valuable work experience; it provides a public service, creating digital records of historic sites that may otherwise be lost.
“Our Geomatics department is working towards including terrestrial Lidar in our study program,” says Gonzales Perez. “In the meantime, our students can start using the equipment and learn not only its operation in the field, but all of the processes that follow to create an appealing 3D model of the buildings.”
Gonzales Perez and his students first completed scans of the 1914 Plant City High School Community Center. As the name suggests, it was built in 1914 and originally served as a high school before becoming a community center in 1975. Its deteriorating condition – the extent of which was revealed by an assessment in 2021 – brought most of the community center’s functions to a halt. Previously, the “1914,” as locals refer to it, hosted local events and housed a local history museum, art studios and galleries, and the H.B. Plant Railroad Historical Society. The ground floor is still home to genealogical archives managed by the East Hillsborough Historical Society, but otherwise the building sits unused. A $7.7 million price tag for completing the necessary repairs has prevented the city, which owns the 1914, from undertaking them. Given the building’s uncertain future, Shelby Bender, president of the East Hillsborough Historical Society, was excited by Gonzales Perez’s proposal to create a digital record of it.
“Ali’s proposal included a few points that I knew would benefit the 1914 and the East Hillsborough Historical Society,” says Bender. “With the results of the Lidar scans, a duplicate model of the 1914 could be created, including its shape, size, color, and accurate geolocation. We could use this as an element in a museum exhibit, either in-house or as part of a virtual or traveling exhibit.”
After the 1914, Gonzales Perez and his students tackled the nearby Plant City Union Station Depot, now the home of the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum. They have also completed scans of the former Plant City Post Office, which also sits unused and – Gonzales Perez suspects – may soon be torn down to accommodate apartment buildings or additional downtown parking.
Next Gonzales Perez wants to expand their efforts to neighboring Bealsville, a rural community established in 1865 by freed slaves. There he wants to secure permission for his students to scan the Bing Rooming House African American Museum, which served as a hotel for African Americans during the Jim Crow era; and the Glover School, a segregated school for African American children that was built in 1933 with funds raised by the community.
The students’ project was featured in a local lifestyle magazine, Plant City Focus, and has since attracted other local students who want to lend their geomatics skills in service to their community.
There are other local sites Gonzales Perez has his eye on, if time and resources (and permissions) allow. He is also researching options for permanently storing the massive digital files produced by the Lidar scanners. Although historic property managers like Bender recognize the value of such digital replicas, they may not be able to store the files themselves (or use them, yet).
Gonzales Perez envisions the 3D models serving as educational tools for the public – in an interactive museum exhibit such as Bender described, where visitors could navigate the digital images and explore the physical facets of local historic buildings. He also hopes they will help spark young people’s interest in the field of geomatics.
“As an instructor at our UF Plant City location, one of my responsibilities is to raise awareness about the availability of a study program in our area that teaches geomatics,” says Gonzales Perez.
Through new technologies and methods like Lidar, the land surveying profession has expanded in recent years, and the term “geomatics” reflects this broader scope. It’s a growing field, particularly in the state of Florida, but it maintains a relatively low profile.
“There seems to be a general lack of awareness about land surveying; many people do not even know what it is, let alone geomatics,” says Gonzales Perez. “I hope that by creating engaging experiences, such as sites where young people can see and interact with 3D models of familiar places, our program can increase interest in our profession within the Plant City and greater Tampa Bay community.”
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