Digital Louisbourg — Reconstruction Archive
Research Methodology
The digital reconstruction of Louisbourg as it stood in 1750 rests on a foundation of primary and secondary source materials from original French colonial plans and period cartography to modern LiDAR surveys and multispectral satellite imagery. This page documents the archival record and the evidence behind every reconstructed structure.
01 — Source Materials Overview
Evidence gathered across three centuries
The reconstruction draws on two complementary categories of source material. Primary sources the original French colonial architectural plans, elevation drawings, and cartographic surveys held in the Fortress of Louisbourg archives…establish the historical form and footprint of the 18th-century town. Secondary and remote sensing sources… terrestrial and aerial LiDAR, multispectral satellite imagery, and georeferenced overlays.. verify terrain, position, and scale against the physical site as it survives today.
Because the modern National Historic Site preserves only about one quarter of the original settlement, cross referencing these records is essential to recovering the full extent of the town. Each source category below documents the archival holdings, survey data, and methodology used.
Primary Source Materials
The archival record behind the reconstructed built environment.
Primary — Architectural
Architectural Plans
Original French colonial plans from the Fortress of Louisbourg archives. Floor plans, construction documents, and detailed architectural drawings. These primary sources define the footprint, room arrangement, and structural logic of individual buildings and establish the layout of streets and blocks across the town.
Attach source drawings and construction documents to this section.
Primary — Cartographic
Maps & Cartography
Period cartographic surveys and historical town maps record the street grid, fortifications, and shoreline of Louisbourg in the mid 18th century. Georeferenced overlays align these historical maps to modern coordinates, allowing every plotted structure to be positioned accurately within the reconstructed model.
Attach period maps and georeferenced overlays to this section.
Primary — Elevations
Elevations
Architectural elevation drawings, façade studies, and cross-sections supply the vertical dimension the floor plans cannot. Roof pitches, window and door placement, storey heights, and structural detailing are drawn directly from these records, ensuring each reconstructed building rises to historically accurate proportions.
Attach elevation studies and cross-sections to this section.
Remote Sensing & Survey Data
Modern measured data that grounds the historical record in the physical site.
Survey — Point Cloud
LiDAR Data
Terrestrial and aerial LiDAR surveys capture the site as dense point cloud data, recording terrain, standing structures, and surviving foundations to centimetre precision. This 3D capture verifies elevations and ground contours, anchoring the reconstructed buildings to the real topography of the peninsula.
Survey —PhOTOGRAPHY
Personal Photos Taken On-Site
During my many trips to the Fortress, I often find locations and missing pieces that I have missed previous times. For example, the roof section of the Governor’s quarters of the King’s Bastion was something I didn’t notice until I started this project, but it is much taller than the other sections of the roof.
Survey — Remote Sensing
Satellite Imagery
Remote sensing data, multispectral imagery, and aerial photography document the site and its surroundings across time. Comparative views over successive years reveal shoreline change, vegetation cover, and subsurface anomalies, helping distinguish original 18th-century features from later disturbance and modern development.
Survey — PHOTOGRAPHY
High-Resolution Images Used as Textures
This is an example of something that I cannot fully replicate in the model, the time it would take to try and render this indicate design would take weeks. It’s simply more efficient to photograph the real thing and import it as a texture file.