Ground-penetrating radar gives new picture to Windsor history

A team of professors from the University of Windsor ishoping to get a better picture of the region's history by creating a massive database of photographs, documents and underground imagery.

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The We Dig History project uses ground-penetrating radar to scan the city's landscape and identify where demolished buildings once stood.

So far, they've scanned an area near the university to look for remains of structures. Those images will then be accompanied by photos collected from residents and scanned into the database.

The group held a scan-a-thon Friday at the school's Leddy Library to help bring the research to life, collecting images of the Ambassador Bridge, building blueprints, and photos of old buildings.

"We're actually trying to dig into history," said Maria Cioppa, an associate professor in the department of earth and environmental science. "We're trying to collect images and imagine what the past was like 150 years ago and beyond."

The group collected more than a couple dozen images Friday and hopes to gather more during another scan-a-thon in November.