Digital data preservation: big data foils Taliban?

Digital data preservation: The photo pictures the larger Buddha of Bamiyan as it was (1968) and as it is today (2008 photo) after it was destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, supposedly on the orders of Bin Laden himself (according to one documentary). Built 1,500 years ago in the 6th century AD, the Buddhas were a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the larger statue was 53m tall (174 feet), the largest #statue in the world.

But thanks to big data (well, small data in 1968) it turns out the larger Buddha cannot be destroyed, for it has been digitally preserved forever. Long before the Taliban came to power, high-resolution photographs were taken from multiple camera positions. Half a century ago, way back in 1968, scientists already used the technique of photogrammetry to reconstruct a 3D contour plot by analyzing the data from the multiple photographs. With the computers of that day, a 3D model accurate to within 20 centimeters preserved the giant Buddha.

Today, big data analytics models exist that can combine these high-resolution 1968 photogrammetry photos with many other photos and movies from tourists and documentaries to produce an ultra-high resolution 3D model. A 2004 Swiss team at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland did just that, developing a 3D computer model accurate to just a few centimeters by re-analyzing just the 1968 photogrammetry photos (although their models supported using additional data from movies and photos as optional additional inputs that could presumably generate even higher resolution reconstructions in the future.)

As we look over our past Instagram feed photos, there are some really exciting stories and blog articles about how big data is making an impact in the world. We wanted to see how could continue to use photos to tell the story of how big data impacts your life. There are some really exciting stories in past photos on our Instagram feed and in our past blog articles that we’ve only begun to tell, such as the Dutch masterpiece painting featured in our article on literacy and social progress, and how that relates to both big data and the fight against terror (yes that photo is related to the Taliban in many ways that we’ve only begun to tell!)

We thought this article’s features photo of the giant Budda would be a good place to continue the visual story of how data analytics impacts the everyday world.

The Taliban had a very hard time destroying the massive statues, which resisted heavy assault by modern weapons. (The Taliban eventually resorted to heavy use of dynamite.)

There is currently a controversial plan to restore the Buddhas physically. However, thanks to digital preservation and data analytics, no matter what it will someday be possible to see the Buddhas again in something like a future Google Street View. (Google map team take note: why isn’t this possible already? The 3D data exists, you should create a “Buddhas of Bamiyan” street view that restores the Buddhas! Google does have a satellite view of the current site available.)

(We originally published a version of this article as a photo on our Instagram feed and elsewhere. Photo credit: Wikimedia/UNESCO/A Lezine/Carl Montgomery/Zaccarias/CC-BY-SA-2)