Immersive Fieldwork

III. Immersive Fieldwork Methods

To document these culturally significant spaces, I employed a range of digital tools reflecting both high-end and accessible technologies. These included:

  • iPhone 16 Pro Max with Scaniverse
  • iPad Pro with Polycam
  • Leica RTC and BLK LiDAR scanners
  • DJI Mavic Pro drone
  • Insta360 X4 for panoramic capture

The Leica RTC offered calibrated architectural fidelity and generated comprehensive point clouds. Meanwhile, mobile tools like Scaniverse and Polycam provided rapid, flexible documentation that democratized access to immersive capture. Across devices, field tests surfaced meaningful variation in mesh quality, resolution, processing times, and export compatibility.

Some challenges included: the iPhone’s limited capture fidelity for large or outdoor structures, the iPad’s overheating during prolonged scans, and the Leica’s requirement for extremely stable tripod positioning in uneven or windy terrain. File sizes from the RTC scanner also presented data transfer and storage hurdles, requiring robust workflows for offloading, backup, and version control.


Immersive Fieldwork

IV. Field Strategies and Constraints

Each tool’s deployment was shaped by environmental conditions, time availability, and spatial affordances. Indoor scans of dimly lit structures required flashlight assistance to ensure proper RGB capture on mobile devices. Larger exterior scans with the RTC demanded both time and environmental stability. The project’s reliance on island ferries introduced rigid time constraints, occasionally preventing more comprehensive documentation like drone-based photogrammetry.

The variable coastal weather on Daufuskie—ranging from humid overcast mornings to high-wind afternoons—affected not only lighting but also tool functionality. Moisture and sand posed additional risks to sensitive LiDAR and drone equipment. On one occasion, a site had to be skipped entirely due to the sudden onset of rain that made it unsafe to operate electronic gear outdoors. Scheduling scans around light conditions was also critical, as low-angle afternoon light enhanced shadow contrast for structural texture capture.
V. Conclusion to Documentation Methodology

The documentation strategy developed through this thesis is as much about technical accuracy as it is about ethical authorship. By combining diverse tools and techniques with care-driven engagement practices, this methodology aims to demonstrate an immersive documentation model rooted in cultural sovereignty, community consent, and narrative control.