SmartGeoMetrics is always on the search for cool, pro-bono projects in the Houston area on which to apply our 3D imaging expertise. We’ve imaged battleships and tall ships, underground cisterns and water walls, art cars and race cars. A relatively recent, and most cool 3D imaging project was the Funnel Tunnel. The Funnel Tunnel, a winding, twisting amalgamation of intertwined colorful wooden slats was installed in in the grassy, tree-lined median of Montrose Blvd in August 2013. SmartGeoMetrics’ Chief Technologist Nicholas Boccio thought it would be fun to image it, and so he did shortly after the work was installed. He unified the point cloud and the data sat on our server until early February of this year. On February 18, Boccio read the headline, “Montrose Funnel Tunnel Takes a Bow on Sunday Morning” and thought he should do something with data. He created a fly-through of the Funnel Tunnel and posted it on the company’s YouTUBE channel. While at this point the response to the video has been underwhelming, it is very encouraging to know the now de-installed Funnel Tunnel is digitally preserved for the future!

Funnel Tunnel install: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/article/Colorful-Funnel-Tunnel-turning-heads-on-Montrose-4721827.php#/0

Funnel Tunnel de-install: http://www.chron.com/life/article/Montrose-s-Funnel-Tunnel-takes-a-bow-on-Sunday-6066595.php