Objectives

This application attempted to use the freely available Google Maps API as a neutral interface for displaying archaeological data. In order to ensure that the application was interoperable with other heritage applications data should be both exported and imported using the MIDAS XML schema.

Technology

• Database: SQL Server 2000
• Web Programming: VB.NET, Javascript, AJAX, CSS

Thesauri

The application uses the full English Heritage Thesauri dataset.

ArcTron Ltd. has been developing various computer-supported information systems and electronic surveying instruments for use in archaeology for more than a decade. Several archaeologists and two specialist programmers, Hans-Juergen Quick and Boris Schuetz, have been involved in the various projects. The following online publication outlines the current status of our developments.

This article is a collection of edited and updated versions of various handbook literature. See, for example: M.Schaich, Computergestützte Grabungsdokumentation (Computer-Supported Excavation Documentation). In: E. Gersbach, Ausgrabung heute. Methoden und Techniken der Feldgrabung ( Excavation Today: Methods and Technology for Field Excavation)(Darmstadt 3rd Edition. 1998) 117-142.

Copyright: http://www.arctron.com

Written by: Martin Schaich

Kenton White of Redhead Designs Ltd walks us through reconstructing an artefact using digital tools.

This study will assess how far new technologies could affect the collection, storage, and interpretation of information about archaeological remains. The technologies that will be looked at are Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Computer-Assisted Design (CAD). The study will focus on the recent investigation at Wroxeter, where GIS was used to study material remains in a landscape context. It will then look at the studies undertaken at Pompeii, where surveys of existing architecture were immediately digitised into a CAD software package.

This offered opportunities to reconstruct hypothetical models, which might aid interpretation of the site. Both of these examples will be used to address the problems faced by traditional paper-based publication of archaeological investigations, such as cost and inflexibility. Throughout the study it will be argued that computerised publication will allow for a more flexible approach to interpretation, since data can be imported or exported to files quickly. This will enable many different hypotheses to be tested more easily and quickly against the data.