GIS for Archaeology and CRM

Apparently this web map is a few years old (initially from 2002/2003), but I have just run across it for the first time and I think it still has great value.

I-Sites: An Archaeological GIS and Database for Iowa Archaeology is created from a group project of the National Park Service, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Iowa, and Iowa State University. I-Sites is an ArcIMS served WMS which displays the archaeological site density and various base layers across the state of Iowa. Al thought site location information is aggregated into 1 mile square areas, access alone to such information is a great find. Plus, this service is offered free with no registration. Although, the timeliness of the data is unknown. Some states, such as Maryland have aggregate archaeological site data available, but only a a price.

The I-Sites WMS first has a search interface where you can query the map by county, USGS quad,Township and Range description, or click on the image map. The ArcIMS application launches from here. Having seen a decent number of IMS implementations in the past, this one seems pretty darn solid. The panning, zooming, and display are all pretty clean.The display is base layer data (major roads, towns, quad grid, watersheds, etc…) and the one mile square units shaded appropriately for their archaeological site density. There is a data query box available to find 1mi^2 units that fit certain criteria. All in all, there are not many bells or whistles, just a solid WMS that tells you what you need to know.

If you doing any planing or research in Iowa, I can see how this would be a valuable starting point.

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