Can we copy a cave, by scanning it with an iPhone lidar, then printing a model of the cave using a 3D printer? The short answers is yes, but there's a lot of complexities, and it is not as easy as one might initially think.
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February 2023, Lukupuro, Espoo, Finland
Caving (None, Surveying, Research)
Greetings from your sewer inspectors! This adventure in Ancient Corinth, Greece, started in a very promising way: why not visit a cave whose name is Σπηλιά «αιδοίο» της Αφροδίτης, or, Aphrodite's you-know-what? And I have to say, it does look very familiar, in fact it looks exactly like the Finnish Högberget cave. See below:
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February 2023, Σπηλιά «αιδοίο» της Αφροδίτης, Archea Corinthos, Greece
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Unknown, Surveying)
Wiesliczka is a suburb of Krakow. Under it is a massive salt mine, extending to a depth of approximately over 300 meters, with the total length of labyrinth passages spanning over 287 kilometers. The use of the site dates back to the 13th century, where the locals would harvest salt from brine (salt concentrate) wells dug on the wetlands. Later in the same century the wells started to be extended as deeper mine shafts and tunnels. Wiesliczka is not just a mine, it is a massive underground world and site of art and history. It is also a well-deserved UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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January 2023, Wieliczka Kopalnia Soli, Wieliczka, Poland
Urban-Exploration (Mines); Caving (Man-Made, Basic, Rock-Other, Showtour)
Wow, another cave country! Slovakia is I think my 28th country where I've been underground. Belianska Jaskyňa is the largest cave open to the public in the Tatra Mountain region in Slovakia. At the length of 3681 meters it is quite big. And, remarkably the tour actually is quite long, rising over a hundred meters in vertical as well inside the cave. And almost two kilometers long! One of the best walking cave tours I've been on.
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January 2023, Belianska jaskyňa, Vysoké Tatry-Tatranská Kotlina, Slovakia
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Showtour)
Pećina Beli Kop is a small cave in Sremski Karlovci, in mid-western Serbia, northwest of Belgrade. The coordinates are N 45.13654 E 19.85772. The cave sits under a sandstone cliff that appears to have eroded, forming the cave. The cave floor is actually a large sandpit itself, and difficult to walk up and down.
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December 2022, Pećina Beli Kop, Sremski Karlovci, Serbia
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Sandstone, Morphology-Erosion, Surveying)
Wow. I've seen DALL-E's pictures from other topics elsewhere previously, but now I tried it myself for caving. And since we just had the pre-Xmas party of our association in the cave, I gave the AI the task of imagining what it would look like. True to its style, the generated images are mixture of amazing with some very disturbing undertones.
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November 2022, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (Media)
The Finnish caving association, Luolaseura, has a tradition to hold pre-Xmas parties. This time we started it in a warm place ... in the Grottberget cave in Siuntio. And it was surprisingly warm, I guess because the cave entrance is lower than the cave itself. And with a dozen cavers in this small cave, it also heated up quickly. I really liked the old style oil lamps. And the cave dog!
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November 2022, Grottbergetin luola, Siuntio, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Social, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crystallization)
We went for a short caving trip in Vantaa... visiting our old friend Kalkkikallion ketunluola. It is still a great small cave, dark and tight. But one of the other caves, Kalkkikallion matalan katon luola (the low roof cave) was even more interesting. I had been there before, and didn't want to go through between the two entrances. Now I tried again... and still didn't want to go through. The cave gets progressively lower between two rock layers, and just before exit it is less than 20 cm... maybe someone else wants to try?
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September 2022, Kalkkikallion kivikatoksen luola, Vantaa, Finland; Kalkkikallion nuotiopaikan luola, Vantaa, Finland; Kalkkikallion matalan katon luola, Vantaa, Finland; Kalkkikallion ketunluola, Vantaa, Finland
Caving (Basic, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Crack, Rock, Rock-Gneiss); Caving (Basic, Surveying, Morphology-Karst, Morphology-Crack, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Rock-Limestone)
Why look for limestone caves and stalactites, when in Finland you can find moss-stalactites? And besides stalactites, the Kipontien luola (cave of the scoop road) is an exceptionally nice experience. Most Finnish caves are cracks on a cliff or space under boulders. But Kipontie is a hole in the ground, on a more or less level surface, even if inside you can see that it is made up of cracks and boulders. But it is dark, it is tight, actually make that very tight, and downright claustrophobia inducing hell hole. Just like caves should be!
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September 2022, Kipontien luola, Orivesi, Finland
Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Crack)
Continuing my quest for using lidar in newest phones to build 3D models of caves. Here we have a scan of the Schneefleckhöhle, a 160-meter marble cave in the Zillertal mountains in Austria. The cave has been scanned with iPhone 12 Pro and Polycam, using lights and the phone mounted on a Benro selfie stick. Scanned segments were put together in Blender and used for fly-through animation. I can also feed the 3D model to my "Cave Outliner" software that draws a plan view map and cross sections based on the model. Lots to improve in various pieces of software, and scanning an entire complex form is very hard. While all of this is very experimental, bleeding edge technology it is also very exciting, and already offers some stunning views onto a caves.
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August 2022, Schneefleckhöhle, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria
Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock, Rock-Marble, Morphology-Erosion)
Schraubenfallhöhle is a cave, an underground river. It starts from one raging waterfall of the Tuxbach dropping into a wide hole in the ground, and emerges a bit later to start another waterfall. It is located by the end of the Hintertux valley, right by the lowest lift station taking people up to the Hintertux glacier.
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August 2022, Schraubenfallhöhle, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria; Schraubenfallhöhle kleine Seitenhöhle 1, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria; Schraubenfallhöhle kleine Seitenhöhle 2, Hintertux, Zillertal, Austria
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Marble, Morphology-Erosion); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Marble, Morphology-Erosion, Surveying)
Jeskyně Postojna famous, massive cave in Slovenia. We are on our way to a Jeskyně Postojna. But not the one in Slovenia... a smaller one in northern Czech Republic. This cave, Postonja cave, was named after farmers' shouts as they kept shouting for their sheep "wait little one" ("postüj malá"). While the cave is not huge, it was a very nice cave to crawl through. Soft, dry sand at the bottom... smooth, round surfaces, tiny holes to squeeze through. A great exploration, with also countless other smaller caves around in the so called Klokočské Rocks natural park. There must be thousands and thousands of holes here, wondering if everything's been researched and looked into?
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July 2022, Jeskyně Postojna, Mírová pod Kozákovem, Czech Republic; Jeskyně Postojna první boční jeskyně, Mírová pod Kozákovem, Czech Republic; Jeskyně Postojna druhá boční jeskyně, Mírová pod Kozákovem, Czech Republic
Caving (Rock, Basic, Surveying, Rock-Sandstone)
I visited these caves last year, but now have software to produce a map of them.
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July 2022, Grafenloch, Oberaudorf, Germany; Rossstall, Oberaudorf, Germany
Caving (Surveying)
I visited the summer meeting, with my loaner dog... did not have time for the actual cave visits. Well, I've been to the area caves already. But they might have found some smaller ones from the forests, and be bitten by mosquitoes :-) But the rest of it was a lot of fun, sauna, swim, eat!
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July 2022, Ilvesjoki Caving Association Headquarters, Ilvesjoki, Finland
Caving (Social, Research)
Crystal Caves here, there, everywhere! I had an uncanny feeling that I've been before to a Crystal Cave, but hey, everybody's entitled to have a crystal cave, no? And this everybody isn't just anybody, it is somebody. Jabba the Hutt, to be precise!
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July 2022, Crystal Cave, Richmond, Pennsylvania, USA
Caving (Basic, Morphology-Karst, Rock, Rock-Limestone)
On my work trip to Philadelphia, I also managed to visit the Lost River Caverns, an hour and half from the city. What a wonderful display of colors and cave forms!
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July 2022, Lost River Caverns, Hellertown, Pennsylvania, USA
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, )