GIS for Archaeology and CRM

Released today in the Directions Magazine site, is a blurb about Timmons Group completion of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) Data Sharing System (DSS). The DSS provides the DHR with the ability to store and disseminate data concerning architectural, historical, and archaeological resources, as well as, integrate resource based spatial analysis. Access to the DSS is granted to DHR employees, planners, property owners, developers and othe parties with a vested interest in DHR resources. This level of integration allows the DHR to make timely and informed decisions that are based on the input of those who are concerned. While the development of the DSS comes in the face of a shrinking work force at the VA DHR , the benefits of efficiency, quicker service, and a centralized database will help in maintaining the support and protection of VA’s cultural resources.

“DSS is an example of how Timmons Group can make the most of technology for state agencies and improve their effectiveness to serve the public, thereby helping them to become nationally recognized leaders,” said Dave Lucado, president of Timmons Group.

Having worked in a State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and helping with the creation of a agency wide Cultural Resource Data Portal, I am very glad to see another state take a huge step into the integration of cultural resource. Too often and in too many states, the DHR or SHPO acts much as a gate-keeper to valuable cultural data and the resources usually suffer for it. It is true that data such as archaeological site locations needs to be guarded, to some degree, though to view all cultural data as a privileged resource is detrimental to its protection. Systems such as the VA DSS allow planners, engineers, and clients to access the data with the freedom and availability that other environmental data is granted. This allows for the integration of cultural resource issues to be brought into the planning phase much earlier that in the past; in turn saving time and money. Further, system such as the DSS allow the employees at the DHR to access and study up to date cultural resource and contextual data to make the best informed and timely recommendation.

Many states have already started down this path, some have even reached a comfortable resting place, but many still need to begin. It is nearly inevitable that all states will need a system similar to this as long at the Federal laws protecting cultural resource are still standing. It looks like the Virginia DHR DSS will be a great model to follow.

News Realease from Greg Yetman:

Beta Release of New Raster Datasets by CIESIN/SEDAC
May 31, 2006

The U.S. Census Grids, 2000 (currently in beta release) provide raster
data sets that include not only population and housing counts, but a
wide range of socioeconomic characteristics. Produced by CIESIN’s
Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), these gridded data
sets transform irregularly shaped census block and block group
boundaries into a regular surface—a raster grid—for faster and easier
analysis. Data sets are currently available for the year 2000; those for
1990 will be released in the near future.

See: http://beta.sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/usgrid/

Thanks to Kris Hirst, at archaeology.about.com, for pointing out a new blog (Digging Digitally Blog) sponsored by the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Digital Data Interest Group (DDIG).

The Digital Data Interest Group (DDIG) is organized to promote the preservation and sharing of archaeological data that are maintained in digital form.”

The DDIG group objectives include encouraging information and data sharing between researchers interested in sharing and preserving digital archaeological data, providing a forum for discussion of archaeological data sharing, and disseminating these data and ideas to the whole of the archaeological community.

The DDIG blog is directed by Eric C. Kansa and Sarah Whitcher Kansa of the Alexandria Archive Institute, makers of the Open Context, an on-line system for securing and sharing primary field data. Here is a brief post on Open Context, XML, and Tagging I wrote at the CAA conference in April.

The DDIG blog is a resource where DDIG members can post information on projects, news, and all things about digital data sharing. The initial posts include a great statement on politics and public access to archaeology, as well as, the announcement of BoneCommons, an Internet based forum for those interested in archaeozoology.

I look forward to reading future posts at Digging Digitally. This is a great group with objectives that I believe in whole heatedly. You might also notice that the DDIG blog creater has great taste in blog templates! Check them out…

In my work, I could be dealing with a GIS project in Maryland one minute, receive a phone call, and have to gear up for a whole new project in Indiana a moment later. I try to keep track of my data sources for each state and county, but they generally get lost in the shuffle of things. I had intended to start a site to keep track of these things, but luckily, GISPilot.com has done that for me.

GISPilot.com is a library of GIS Data links organized by nation, state, and county. The site claims over 1,300 links to data repositories from the United States to Australia with a large amount of links which are currently being added. Contact information is provided so that users can suggest data sources that may have been left out.

I took a look around some of the states that I have worked in before and the list of data centers looks pretty good. I’m sure with time the list will become even more comprehensive. Check it out…