About
Access 3D Lab past projects
Access 3D Lab carried out digitally-driven research in STEM fields, the arts and the humanities, helping create a vibrant digital innovation ecosystem under the leadership of former founding director Dr. Laura Harrison. Projects involve multidisciplinary collaboration, public-private partnerships, and community outreach, all of which are driven by technologial advancements in digital recording, analysis, and dissemination.
Artours Clearwater
The "Paint the Town" project, known as ARTours Clearwater, resulted from a multi-year collaboration with the USF Advanced Visualization Center and the Clearwater Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). By combining LiDAR technology with interactive app design, these partners have transformed murals in downtown Clearwater into a self-guided augmented reality experience that bridges the gap between digital scholarship and public art.
Project Clay: Creative Learning Through Archaeology
Project CLAY (Creative Learning Through Archaeology) is an educational outreach initiative that blends comic art, 3D printing, and archaeology to provide multisensory learning experiences for middle school students. Grounded in the expertise of professional artist Kristin Donner and archaeologist Laura Harrison, the project provides Florida teachers with free Activity Boxes that include 3D-printed replicas and lesson plans designed to meet state learning objectives through immersive storytelling and hands-on discovery.
Ybor City Lidar
The Ybor City LiDAR project is a collaborative effort in partnership with the USF School of Public Affairs to digitize the historic casitas of the Ybor City National Historic Landmark District. Through a series of workshops, faculty and students utilized terrestrial LiDAR scanners to create high-resolution digital replicas and georeferenced maps, providing a critical resource for heritage preservation and future urban planning.
R/V Weatherbord II Lidar Scan
In partnership with the Florida Institute of Oceanography and the USF School of Public
Affairs, the project aimed at conducting a high-resolution terrestrial LiDAR survey
of the R/V Weatherbird II while in dry dock. This project created a survey-grade digital
record of the vessel鈥檚 complex structure and laboratories, providing faculty and students
with a unique 3D dataset for marine science education, maintenance planning, and STEM
outreach.
Digital Archaeology at Manatee Mineral Springs
The Digital Archaeology at Manatee Mineral Springs project is a collaborative effort in partnership with the New College Public Archaeology Lab, and Reflections of Manatee, Inc. to document the history of the "maroon" community of Angola. Funded by the City of Bradenton and the Florida Division of Historic Resources, the project utilizes terrestrial laser scanning to preserve high-resolution digital records of excavations, helping faculty and students analyze the site's stratigraphy and heritage while honoring the resilience of the freedom seekers who lived there.
Cravens Collections Virtual Museum
Led by archaeologist Laura Harrison and the Access 3D Lab, the Cravens Collection
Digital Museum project utilizes handheld structured light and laser scanners to digitize
over 1,100 global artifacts. In partnership with the University at Buffalo Art Galleries,
this initiative enhances teaching and learning by providing faculty and students with
high-fidelity 3D models and linked open data to explore the collection's pedagogical
and research value from anywhere in the world.