As part of my research exploring how journalists can use 3D tools to understand and explain the news in an interactive way, I created a 3D model of the scene of where the container ship MV Dali struck Baltimore's Key Bridge. I downloaded two videos released by the U.S. NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and a third from the Baltimore County Police Department and reconstructed the scene using Gaussian Splatting.
Even when authorities close the airspace over a news event, it's still possible to create unique imagery with the 3D data gathered from external sources.
On March 26, 2024 the container ship MV Dali lost power and struck the 1.6 mile long Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore. The collision caused the main spans of the bridge to collapse, throwing eight workers on the bridge into the water below. Two of the workers were rescued, however the bodies of two of the workers were later recoved and the remaining four are presumed dead. The collapse blocked ship access to the Port of Baltimore, which handles approximately $80bn worth of cargo a year.