Rapid City, South Dakota: Project partners of the Mount Rushmore digital preservation project announce the launch of the official National Park Service mobile app featuring a virtual tour of the Mountain Sculpture and park grounds, as well as selected 3D content resulting from the laser scanning of the park.

The mobile app is part of a five-year partnership between CyArk and the National Park Service to digitally preserve Mount Rushmore and share the data with the public through educational components like the free app, the web portal, and math and art lesson plans for K-12 (coming soon).

Learn how the project team overcame the challenges of laser scanning the mountain sculpture in order to create the most accurate 3D model of it to-date. Take the virtual tour to stand between the chins of Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln or explore the hidden Hall of Records behind the heads of the Presidents--all complete with narration, immersive 360° images, maps, 3D laser scans, and illustrations.

The audio-narrated tour within the app is great for taking along on your next visit to Mount Rushmore--you can learn about the history of the monument and its sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, and his artist studio. The virtual tour is also great for planning your trip or virtually exploring the memorial from anywhere in the world.

The app, which is available for download on your iPads and iPhones, is now available through the iTunes store.