In this guest post, Ian George of Cosmic Oak Media takes us on a journey through time and technology, blending ancient history with modern iPhone lidar scanning. As an expert in innovative spatial capture and media production, Ian shares his hands-on experience with iPad and iPhone LiDAR scanning, the evolution of top 3D scanning apps, and advanced techniques like NeRF and Gaussian Splats. In this post, Ian discusses these topics as applied to the documentation of Neolithic monuments, a passion of this. He also explores an intriguing hypothesis from English archaeologist Alfred Watkins about purpose and orientation of these Neolithic structure. A big thank-you to Ian for an engaging conversation and for sharing this excellent article with the Lidar News audience.
Ley-ing Down History With iPhone LiDAR Scanning
Our ancestors toiled to add standing stones to landscapes of our world from Stonehenge’s trilithons to Göbekli Tepe’s T-shaped pillars carved with animals. These monuments intrigue a great many of us as to why they were used as calendars to mark sun and moon positions throughout each year and why they required specific types of rocks for this. Whatever went on back in the day, it seems it had more purpose than a Druidic temple, or calendar.
For people like myself, being around these behemoths triggers a good old fashioned ponder, but using AI and the internet I have been able to find some answers to their existence. One of the most plausible reasons was written by a multi-faceted man from Hereford, called Alfred Watkins, who combined his practical observation with a rational evidence based approach. Alfred delved into the origins of British place names, suggesting that words like “ley,” “dod,” or “Cole” in names (e.g., Leystone) hinted at their connection to these ancient tracks or markers. He also suggested that skilled “ley-men” used sighting techniques with poles or natural landmarks to align these navigation points, which he termed “Leys”. His books titled, ‘Early British Pathways’(1922) and ‘The Old Straight Track’ (1925) proposed that stone circles, mounds, beacons and other landscape features were practical tools for travel and trade, rather than mystical or spiritual constructs.
I’ll quickly mention here that while I was discovering more about his many occupations, it transpired he was also a pioneer of photography and wrote a publication called ‘Photography: It’s Principles and Applications (1911), reflecting his expertise and innovations in the field. He even went as far as developing his own photos on-site in a tent close to the stones he captured.
I bet the multi-talented Alfred would probably have loved being around today and knowing that you could bring these gigantic lumps home in your pocket by copying them, in a matter of minutes, with a smartphone in 3D. On top of that, he would have loved the chance to augment his captures in any environment, like the historical monument or archeology societies of which he was also a member.
For me though, a century on from this accomplished man of learning, it feels good having immaculate 3D models of these monuments to add to my 3D softwares and marry their sites with precise NASA and Google Maps coordinates and help speculate further on their alignments. When my coding (or AI) improves I want to build an app that will allow others to view these orienteering landmarks through a historical virtual reality experience. Also where it is warmer and drier than the often changeable weather to be found around the UK.
3D Scanning Hobby Turned Profession
I have been in and around these tombs and circles since I was a boy, but I began this 3D scanning hobby in 2020 when Apple introduced a small iPhone lidar scanner to their Pro line of mobile devices. To onlookers I expect I look a bit odd with my deliberate slow pace, a three-metre long photographic light stand with a 13” iPadPro on the end. The extra height helps me avoid holes in my scanning results as it can be quite easy to miss details at the top of an eight foot plus Menhir from ground height alone.
When I begin a scan on an easy target like that. I will take one to three loops around it while aiming my device straight at it for the first loop, then change the position of the iPad clamp so that it points downward at a 30-45 degree angle. I then lift the device, clearing the top and make the second loop. Occasionally I use a pause button on the app I use while I do this (it can be paired with a bluetooth remote to aid this).
I’ve copied hundreds of these neolithic monuments so it has become easier to carefully hold the pole still, make that adjustment and carry on. I also capture some of the ground around the stone if required with a third loop, but most of the time it gets captured with the downwards facing angle.
I make my standing stone copies with LiDAR based apps that I prefer to use, but I occasionally use a drone, cinema camera or professional level DSLRs. It depends on deliverables from client to client and most of the time they are delighted with what can be achieved on my phone with apps. Occasionally, I’ve had to get down on my hands and knees inside a few of the long barrow burial mounds to scan the entire interior. A muddy and uncomfortable 10 to 20 minute affair, but terrific to see the inside and crown it with the cover as a separate scan.
Over the years, these kinds of posts on my socials gained me a following and recognition from companies such as Shutterstock, Niantic Scaniverse, and others to supply 3D captures for virtual reality and production sets as well as heritage and gaming companies.
iPhone Lidar Scanning For Mobile 3D Capture
My favourite iPhone lidar scanning app is called Scaniverse, which shows a helpful red and white pattern that disappears when you capture an area correctly. This is why I prefer using my large iPad Pro screen to view from a few metres away. It is aided by a non-glare screen protector as well, but if the subject or object is small enough I will use my phone instead.
When these 3D mobile scanning apps first came to market around 2019, there were many developers interested in having my opinions on their usability, as well as pointing out bugs, so I became a beta tester for a few of them. App developers are always happy to let anyone (who is enthusiastic enough) have their apps tested free on any kind of subject, not just 3D scanning. It’s good having something new before its released too.
I still turn to other mobile phone scanning apps like LumalabsAI. It was the first app to offer a new type of 3D capture called neural radiance field (NeRF) scans on a cloud based rendering service. These upload your images or video for intensive graphics processing on their side of the line. You wait a while, then download the rendered result. This is also a common method with photogrammetry based scanning apps.
The models and scenes from these integrate so well into 3D game engines and editors via their multi-format exports, straight from the app. Providing the app is open before you begin a scan, Luma also allows you to capture the scan and upload later when you have better connectivity. Something that rural places and thick medieval walls often block. I really admire the photorealistic scenes NeRFs deliver with LumalabsAI and I applied to their beta version from its outset in late summer 2022. The app also converts drone and 360 footage into gorgeous models and these days it uses the new version of radiance fields called 3D Gaussian Splats (3DGS). These are just NeRF’s without the need for the heavy neural processing and a game changer as they process so quickly and cheaply over their predecessor.
Polycam3D has a plethora of useful capture and measuring methods from 3D room, floor plans, LiDAR, photogrammetry, Gaussian splat rendering and now 3D models from 2D photographs using generative AI. It’s a good all rounder and requires a subscription for all the functionality in the professional version. I also use it for uploading my drone footage for conversion to 3DGS.
Kiri Engine is one app that delivers extremely clean 3D meshes from Gaussian Splats and the company develops and gives away brilliant free Blender (a free 3D editor) plugins for editing 3DGS models with. They offer LiDAR and photogrammetry rendering too.
Scaniverse is probably the only app that renders LiDAR and 3DGS without needing a connection or uploading data. That’s probably why I turn to it so frequently. It includes extra 3D editing features for brightness, contrast, sharpening and cropping models. It also has many preset video camera movements, colour backgrounds, and speed controls for exporting slick short videos of your captures in minutes.
In March 2024 they added 3DGS capturing to their app with an added feature of sharing your scans in VR (in a few minutes on Meta 3 & 3S) with ‘Into The Scaniverse’ world map. In March 2025 they also released three videos about my tips and tricks and my other use cases in VFX with their app.
These apps, the quicker 5G connections and multi-core processing are already helping mobile 3D scanning usher in the ubiquitous computing that was dreamed of a long time ago. A digital twin of our world can now be spatially captured and useful for many industries and professions for our technological advancement.
There are many industries that currently benefit from having a powerful 3D scanning tool – in their pocket – from archaeologists, surveyors and education departments. They can capture and share artefacts around the world so easily and inexpensively. It can only keep getting better and may even replace our current methods for capturing memories one day as well.
When I started this and saw my first capture and render of a standing stone on my iPad screen in a drizzly field back in 2020, I was in awe. Part of me knew I could drop this stone in in a 3D editor like Blender and align my own sun and moon positions where I wanted them without the inclement weather. I was excited too and felt an affinity with Alfred Watkins. I could picture him, in his makeshift darkroom tent. I knew exactly how he felt looking at his standing stone photographs, revealing themselves in his developing trays.
We hope you enjoyed this excellent contribution from Ian George. To learn more about Ian and the work that he is doing, please visit his website – Cosmic Oak Media.
