French military funds technology to document heritage in conflict zones

The French ministry of defence is funding a US-French consortium that is working to democratise the technology used to digitally document heritage sites threatened by war. A $1.1m grant, announced last month, supports a three-year project to widen access to this 3D data, so that it can be used by troops on the ground and scholars via their laptops anywhere to assess the condition of monuments and sites at risk. Peacetime applications include sites threatened by climate change and urban growth.