Mobile Phones Enabling Historic Preservation

Atlanta Preservation Center explores how smartphones can capture cultural heritage details

Mar. 3, 2026 at 11:30pm

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The Atlanta Preservation Center is hosting an event that will showcase how mobile phones can be used as reality capture tools to advance historic preservation. The presentation will explore the emerging potential of mobile phone-based scanning as an accessible alternative for documenting and monitoring historic buildings and elements, allowing more users to actively participate in preservation practice.

Why it matters

As technology continues to evolve, the ability to leverage accessible tools like smartphones for historic preservation can democratize the process and engage more community members in documenting and protecting cultural heritage sites. This event highlights how mobile scanning can complement high-end workflows and foster hands-on learning about the principles of reality capture.

The details

The event will demonstrate how LiDAR and image-based apps on smartphones can now capture cultural heritage details with promising results. Attendees are encouraged to bring an architectural fragment or object to test as a live demo during the session. The goal is to show how mobile phone scanning can strengthen community engagement with historic preservation.

  • The event will take place on Tuesday, March 3, 2026 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

The players

The Atlanta Preservation Center

A nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Atlanta's historic buildings and cultural heritage.

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The takeaway

This event highlights how emerging technologies like mobile phone scanning can democratize historic preservation, allowing more community members to actively participate in documenting and protecting cultural heritage sites.