Spatial Technology and Archaeology: The Archaeological Applications of GIS

Description

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and related spatial technologies have a new and powerful role to play in archaeological interpretation. Beginning with a conceptual approach to the representation of space adopted by GIS, this book examines spatial databases; the acquisition and compilation of data; the analytical compilation of data; the analytical functionality of GIS; and the creation and utilization of critical foundation data layers such as the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The ways in which GIS can most usefully facilitate archaeological analysis and interpretation are then explored particularly as a tool for the management of archaeological resources. Formal analysis of archaeological material, and the use of trend surface, contouring and interpolation procedures are considered along with predictive modeling analysis of visibility and intervisibility. Finally there is a discussion of leading-edge issues, including three-dimensional GIS, object-oriented GIS, the relationship between GIS and 'Virtual Reality' technologies, and the integration of GIS with distributed systems and the Internet. The approach is light, and technical detail is kept to a minimum, recognizing that most readers are simply interested in using GIS effectively. The text is carefully illustrated with worked case-studies using archaeological data. Spatial Technology and Archaeology provides a single reference source for archaeologists, students, professionals, and academics in archaeology as well as those in anthropology and related disciplines. Book Cover Half-Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of figures List of tables Preface Acknowledgements CHAPTER ONE Archaeology, space and GIS 1.1 SPATIAL INFORMATION AND ARCHAEOLOGY 1.2 THINKING ABOUT SPACE 1.3 NEUTRAL SPACE AND QUANTIFICATION 1.4 MEANINGFUL SPACES 1.5 WHAT IS A GIS? 1.6 AN ANATOMY LESSON Data entry Spatial database Manipulation and analysis 1.7 WHERE DID GIS COME FROM? 1.8 WHAT DOES IT DO THAT MAKES IT SO ATTRACTIVE TO ARCHAEOLOGISTS? 1.9 THE DEVELOPMENT OF GIS APPLICATIONS IN ARCHAEOLOGY 1.10 CONCLUSION CHAPTER TWO The spatial database 2.1 HOW DOES A SPATIAL DATABASE DIFFER FROM A TRADITIONAL DATABASE? 2.2 THEMATIC MAPPING AND GEOREFERENCING 2.3 PROJECTION SYSTEMS 2.4 FURTHER COMPLICATIONS 2.5 SPATIAL DATA MODELS AND DATA STRUCTURES 2.6 VECTOR DATA STRUCTURES Fundamental mappable objects Spatial dimension of primitives 2.7 AN EXAMPLE OF A ‘SIMPLE’ VECTOR STRUCTURE Documentation section Data section for points Data section for lines Attribute values files Topological information Encoding topology Topology of line data Topology of area data Problems with simple data structures An enriched vector data structure Networks Area data: arc-node-area data structures Island and envelope polygons Summary 2.8 RASTER DATA LAYERS Attributes and raster structures Locating individual cells Topology and raster structures Sampling and resolution Compression Quadtrees Summary 2.9 WHICH IS BEST—VECTOR OR RASTER? 2.10 A NOTE ON THEMATIC MAPPING 2.11 CONCLUSION 2.12 FURTHER INFORMATION CHAPTER THREE Acquiring and integrating data 3.1 SOURCES OF SPATIAL DATA 3.2 SOURCES OF ATTRIBUTE DATA 3.3 CLARIFYING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPATIAL AND ATTRIBUTE 3.4 INTEGRATING SPATIAL INFORMATION—MAP-BASED DATA Preparation Practicalities of digitising Scanning of maps and ‘heads-up’ digitising 3.5 INTEGRATING SPATIAL INFORMATION—CO-ORDINATES 3.6 INTEGRATING SPATIAL INFORMATION—SURVEY DATA Survey with total station Global Positioning Systems 3.7 INTEGRATING SPATIAL INFORMATION—IMAGES Conventional aerial photographs Correction and rectification Integrating the image Electronic scanners and remote sensing Remote sensing from space Landsat SPOT Russian systems Others Geophysical survey data 3.8 INTEGRATING SPATIAL INFORMATION—EXISTING DIGITAL RESOURCES 3.9 INTEGRATING ATTRIBUTE DATA 3.10 DATA QUALITY Accuracy and precision Factors effecting data quality Currency and source Measurement and observation errors Transcription errors 3.11 METADATA AND INTEROPERABILITY 3.12 CONCLUSION CHAPTER FOUR Manipulating spatial data 4.1 THIS IS WHERE THE FUN STARTS Searches or queries Summaries Modelling techniques 4.2 SEARCHING THE SPATIAL DATABASE Region searches for points Region searches for lines and areas 4.3 SUMMARIES Univariate statistical summaries Area Perimeter Histograms and other graphical summaries Crosstabulation 4.4 SIMPLE TRANSFORMATIONS OF A SINGLE DATA THEME Reclassification and generalisation Mathematical transformations Neighbourhood operators A mean operator Other examples of neighbourhood operators Examples of transformations 4.5 SPATIAL DATA MODELLING Arithmetic between layers Boolean operations Mask and cover overlay operations CHAPTER FIVE Digital elevation models 5.1 USES OF ELEVATION MODELS 5.2 ELEVATION DATA IN MAPS 5.3 STORING ELEVATION DATA IN GIS Data structures for elevation models 5.4 CREATING ELEVATION MODELS Interpolation The effect of different algorithms Generating TINs from contours Photogrammetry 5.5 PRODUCTS OF ELEVATION MODELS Slope and aspect Analytical hill shading Hydrological and flood modelling 5.6 VISUALISATION 5.7 SUMMARY CHAPTER SIX Beginning to quantify spatial patterns 6.1 WHAT IS SPATIAL ANALYSIS? 6.2 IDENTIFYING STRUCTURE WHEN WE ONLY HAVE POINTS Quadrat methods Nearest-neighbour distances Dispersion of clusters around the mean centre 6.3 SPATIAL STRUCTURE AMONG POINTS THAT HAVE VALUES 6.4 SPATIAL STRUCTURE IN AREA AND CONTINUOUS DATA 6.5 STRUCTURE IN LINES AND NETWORKS 6.6 COMPARING POINTS WITH SPATIAL VARIABLES: ONE- AND TWO-SAMPLE TESTS 6.7 RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DIFFERENT KINDS OF SPATIAL OBSERVATIONS 6.8 EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS 6.9 AND THERE IS MORE… 6.10 SPATIAL ANALYSIS? CHAPTER SEVEN Sites, territories and distance 7.1 BUFFERS, CORRIDORS AND PROXIMITY SURFACES 7.2 VORONOI TESSELLATION AND DELAUNAY TRIANGULATION 7.3 COST AND TIME SURFACES Isotropic cost surface analysis Anisotropic cost surface analysis The friction surface Barriers, transportation routes and terrain Least-cost pathways More methodological considerations 7.4 SITE CATCHMENT ANALYSIS AND GIS 7.5 CONCLUSION CHAPTER EIGHT Location models and prediction 8.1 DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE APPROACHES 8.2 INPUTS AND OUTPUTS Unit of analysis Inputs to models Spatial parameters Physical environment characteristics Economic measures Cultural features Outputs from models 8.3 RULE-BASED APPROACHES Deductive rule approaches using map algebra Inductive methods of obtaining simple rules 8.4 REGRESSION-BASED APPROACHES Linear multiple regression Problems with linear multiple regression Logistic multiple regression Bias towards successful prediction of nonsites Optimising logistic regression models 8.5 AN EXAMPLE: PREDICTIVE MODELLING IN ACTION 8.6 METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN PREDICTIVE MODELLING 8.7 THE PREDICTION PREDICAMENT: THEORETICAL DIFFERENCES OF OPINION 8.8 CONCLUSIONS CHAPTER NINE Trend surface and interpolation 9.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERPOLATORS 9.2 POINT DATA 9.3 TREND SURFACE ANALYSIS 9.4 APPROACHES THAT USE TRIANGULATION 9.5 APPROACHES THAT USE SPLINES 9.6 NUMERICAL APPROXIMATION 9.7 GEOSTATISTICS AND KRIGING 9.8 SUMMARY CHAPTER TEN Visibility analysis and archaeology 10.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF VISIBILITY IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS 10.2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO VISIBILITY 10.3 HOW DOES THE GIS CALCULATE VISIBILITY? 10.4 VISIBILITY WITHIN SAMPLES OF SITES—THE CUMULATIVE VIEWSHED 10.5 VISIBILITY OF GROUPS OF SITES—MULTIPLE AND CUMULATIVE VIEWSHEDS 10.6 PROBLEMS WITH VIEWSHED ANALYSIS 10.7 INTERVISIBILITY AND RECIPROCITY 10.8 HOW ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE APPLIED VISIBILITY ANALYSES 10.9 CRITIQUES AND DEVELOPMENTS CHAPTER ELEVEN Cultural resource management 11.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF SPATIAL TECHNOLOGY FOR HERITAGE MANAGEMENT Retrieval and display Integration 11.2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE AS CONTINUOUS VARIATION 11.3 REALITY: THE ANTIDOTE TO GIS Data and data quality People, time and training Planning and project management Case studies 11.4 SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES: DOLMEN DATABASE AND GIS The context of the application Design of the system Discussion 11.5 REGIONAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENT: HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Historical background Description of current systems Data quality issues People issues 11.6 NATIONAL AND SUPRA-NATIONAL CONTEXTS 11.7 CONCLUSIONS: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE ADOPTION OF GIS CHAPTER TWELVE Future directions 12.1 THE CURRENT STATE OF GIS APPLICATIONS WITHIN ARCHAEOLOGY 12.2 THE DEVELOPING SHAPE OF GIS APPLICATIONS WITHIN ARCHAEOLOGY 12.3 TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF GIS 12.4 OBJECT-ORIENTED GIS (OO-GIS) 12.5 MULTI-DIMENSIONAL GIS (3D-GIS) 12.6 TEMPORAL GIS (TGIS) 12.7 TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE AND FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY 12.8 BUILDING A RESEARCH COMMUNITY References Index