Topcon Positioning Systems and its president and CEO, Ray O’Connor, were honored by the City of Pompeii, Italy, and four Italian universities for assisting with the preservation and renovation of the historic landmark of Pompeii.
Old Pompeii, one of Italy’s major tourist attractions with 25,000 visitors a day, was literally falling apart after 2011’s record rainfall, according to one report. The Italian government, through the University of Naples and the City of Pompeii, allocated €120 million (about U.S. $157.2 million) to the preservation of the old city.
Pompeii, located near present-day Naples, was partially destroyed and buried under 10 to 20 feet of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on Aug. 24, AD 79. The city was lost for nearly 1,700 years before it was rediscovered in 1748.
Also involved in the project is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which designated Pompeii as a World Heritage Site. Topcon’s Italian distributor — GEOTOP Topcon — and its president and CEO, Ivan Di Federico, worked directly with the government officials and the four universities, which make up a consortium known as Benecon.
Before restoration on the city could begin, site mapping and precise information about ground and building movements had to be done. Topcon won the bid to provide precise survey, mapping and GIS equipment and software for the project. O’Connor’s involvement in the project was rewarded with the “key” to the City of Pompeii, and an honorary master’s degree in architecture from the University of Naples.
“It is a very high honor, indeed, to be recognized by the mayor of Pompeii and the prestigious University of Naples,” said O’Connor. “However, it is a much higher honor to be part of an incredible cooperative undertaking like working together to preserve one of the world’s most important and impressive historical sites."
Di Federico said the first project objective would be “the creation of a 3D mapping system. Survey teams will recreate the site in a virtual form with great precision by overlaying images and laser scans to precisely measure the distance between each point, thus creating the old city in 3D imagery. [This technology] will allow for visitors to see themselves in the original environment, as if they were Roman citizens of Pompeii before the devastating volcano explosion.”
Topcon’s three-year contract is with Benecon Consortium Society, a combination of four universities — Second University of Naples, University Federico II, University of Salerno and the University of Sannio.
“This project will be a top priority for Topcon and will include collaboration with Topcon technology groups in Livermore, California, Europe and Japan,” Di Federico said.
Topcon Positioning Systems designs and manufactures precise positioning products and solutions for the global surveying, construction, agriculture, civil engineering, mapping and GIS, asset management and mobile control markets.
