There is now a widespread acceptance of the importance of data
standards, and the key platforms for this, the Monument Inventory Data
Standard (MIDAS), the event/monument/source data model and the
national reference data terminology thesauri
and word lists (INSCRIPTION) have already been agreed. These standards
will inevitably develop in the light of practical experience and in
response to new areas. A forum for discussing developments in data
standards is already in place, the Forum on Information Standards
in Heritage (FISH) and its work and that of other standard setting
groups will continue. The advent of the Archaeology Data Service has also
provided a welcome impetus through their guides to good practice.
Moreover, as their remit is to make archaeological data available
digitally, they have been pioneers in enabling access to core data
from some SMRs via the Internet. Nevertheless, major challenges remain
for the future, not least the need to develop standards for
archaeological spatial data.
© Internet Archaeology
URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue15/3/pg3.html
Last updated: Wed Jan 28 2004