Oriel College in the UK is blessed with alumni including two Nobel laureates, one of them being a founding member of the Oxford Movement – the Catholic revival in the Church of England – but while the academic prowess of the college is not in any doubt, the structural integrity of an institution that was founded in 1326 is less certain.
GIM International writes:
Located in the heart of Oxford and made up of a myriad of buildings, with around 200 rooms across five storeys fulfilling a variety of uses, Oriel College presented unique scanning challenges. The custodians of Oriel College needed to assess the physical ‘health’ of their ‘Island Site’, a hidden-away part of the college only usually accessible through two entrances, one of which is a tunnel with step access.
The likelihood of encountering unforeseen issues with the buildings (particularly when a structure has been added to and developed over the years) was high. As such, accurate floor plans and elevation drawings needed to be created based on mobile mapping data, displaying exactly how the building was built. This included all quirks and irregularities that are of interest for future structural improvements or changes to the buildings. A challenging handheld mobile mapping project was performed to create these maps and CAD drawings of this part of the University of Oxford.
