Virtual Model Planned to Interpret Lost 1779 Pluckemin Artillery Park

Technology Will Create Interpretive View of the Pluckemin Artillery Park

May 2011 - Bedminster, New Jersey

The Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House announced recently that the organization has commissioned to create a preliminary 3D Visualization of the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment, the lost 1778-1779 winter cantonment of General Henry Knox's artillery that was located in Pluckemin, New Jersey. While no buildings survive on the site, significant archeological work and other historical records permit the creation of a preliminary 3D reconstruction of the buildings that made up the cantonment. 

This preliminary 3D visualization can be used as an interpretive guide for visitors at the Jacobus Vanderveer House Museum so they may understand the importance of the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment to American Revolutionary War history.  In addition, the preliminary 3D visualization can serve as a guide for more detailed 3D visualization that could be created at a later date.  This is where technology interprets our historical information and provides a visual experience into one of America's most significant lost revolutionary war treasures,' noted Brooks Betz, Board member of the Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House.

The virtual concept came out of discussions regarding how to create a representation of the lost Pluckemin Artillery Park and the Pluckemin Cantonment, the lost cantonment of the winter of 1778-1779. "We think this is the best way to take the information we have at this time, and best represent a model of the cantonment", noted Leslie Mole, President of the Friends of JVH. "Why spend funds on a physical model when we know that the details of the cantonment will change as the research continues." Ms. Mole is referring to the continuing advancement of the historic research that has been commissioned to various professional, educational, and historical organizations around the state and country. Dr. John Seidel, Director at Washington College in Maryland has been involved with the Pluckemin Artillery Project since it's inception back in the 1960's.

The Center for Environment and Society at Washington College proposes to create a preliminary 3D visualization of the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment by using Google Sketch-Up, Google Earth, ArcGIS, and GeoWeb3D. In addition to the Google Earth 3D renderings, Washington College will also utilize ArcGIS and GeoWeb3d to create detailed flyovers of the site that will be viewable as digital animated movies to permit a viewer to visualize the context of the site with the surrounding area.  These animated movies will also be viewable over the Internet. Dr. John Seidel, Director and Stewart Bruce, GIS Program Coordinator at the Center for Environment and Society at Washington College will lead the effort.

An example of the virtual work done at CES. A view of North Water Street in Chestertown, MD as modeled by the Washington College team.

The plan will incorporate GIS and artifact location information alongside the only documented known drawn representation of the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment, the John Lillie drawing (see at top of article).

The target is to have the virtual model available for the annual Vanderveer / Knox House Colonial Christmas Celebration in December 2011.

The official name of the latest placement to the National Historic register: Pluckemin Continental Army Artillery Cantonment" including the Pluckemin Artillery Academy was designated officially on the National Register of Historic Places.

A "cantonment is "a group of building constructed primarily for the purpose of housing troops"; the term camp or "encampment" refers to troops quartered in their regimental or brigade lines. So you can decide for yourself if Pluckemin is an encampment or cantonment.

See Google Sketch and Google Earth in Action:

Below are the instructions for seeing the 3D rendering examples using Google Earth:

Download Google Earth (Free)
http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

Visit http://gis.washcoll.edu/3Dindex.php

• Right click on any of the images, click SAVE AS and save the package on your desktop as a .KMZ file (not .ZIP as it might say)
• Open Google Earth
• Select File Open and find the downloaded .KMZ file from your desktop
• Double click your “Temporary Places” Directory and expand the drawings.
• Click the link to one of the addresses
• Make sure the “3D Buildings” Layer is selected
• Use the navigation (upper right of Google Earth) to zoom in and around the 3D images.
• Below is the screen with the downloaded/opened High Street.KMZ file
• In the Temporary Places, Double click the address of the building and it will zoom to that image/location on the map
• Click the “+ slider” on the right side of the page (do NOT go to street level or you will only see today’s street image)
• Drag the “N” or “North icon at the upper right to circle around the building.

What's a KMZ file?

A KMZ file consists of a main KML file and zero or more supporting files that are packaged using a Zip utility into one unit, called an archive. The KMZ file can then be stored and emailed as a single entity. A Network Link can fetch a KMZ file from a web server. When the KMZ file is unzipped, the main .kml file and its supporting files are separated into their original formats and directory structure, with their original filenames and extensions. In addition to being an archive format, the Zip format is also compressed, so an archive can include only a single large KML file. Depending on the content of the KML file, this process typically results in 10:1 compression. Your 10 Kbyte KML file can be served with a 1 Kbyte KMZ file.

Google Earth and Google Maps can read KML and KMZ files directly, and they can save files as KMZ files. By default, the main KML file is named doc.kml.

For additional information:

• For additional information on the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment-visit www. pluckeminartillery.com
• For additional information on the Historic Vanderveer/Knox House and Museum - visit www.jvanderveerhouse.com
• For additional information about GIS efforts at Washington College - http://gis.washcoll.edu
• Community Visualization in St. Michaels, MD and Chestertown, MD - http://gis.washcoll.edu/community.php
• Taking two dimensional maps and integrating site plans and GIS information as basis for virtual model using something like Google Sketch up - http://sketchup.google.com/

Submitted: May 8, 2011

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