Whilst the evaluation of the different returns from a variety of remote sensing techniques formed a well-defined component of the research project, the data required full integration before they could usefully contribute to the project SMR. A variety of software was used to undertake particular tasks and the full data set integrated using G-Sys Geographic Data Management Software, since this provides the facility to combine information stored in databases, vector drawings and multiple rasters in a variety of formats. Data from the County Sites and Monuments record are contained in three dBase III format files comprising the full SMR record, Air-photographic Record and a Site Index originally compiled from a card index SMR; the latter file has largely been replaced by the Full SMR Record. Excavation data are likewise managed using a series of dBase III format files chosen on account of their inherent portability and ASCII format which gives a greater archive security than in a binary database format. Vector data was digitised using CAD software and G-Sys itself. Files digitised using CAD software were imported using DXF file transfer format. PCI Easi-Pace image processing software was used for primary image analysis and rectification purposes and in-house software for management, analysis and storage of the geophysical survey data. All data used in the evaluation has been geo-referenced onto the Ordnance Survey national grid and placed in context using both raster and vector maps provided by North Yorkshire County Council, with whom the archive will finally be placed. Data integration within a single software environment has been a project objective for over a decade, since specialist tools, such as CAD and Image Processing software, are generally too complex for use in day-to-day archive management and landscape evaluation. Difficulties in linking multi-faceted data sets to CAD packages, coupled with very poor performance and difficulties in establishing easy user interactivity with the data set, had prompted the development of G-Sys some years earlier. Only limited changes were required to support the inclusion of multi-band image files such that any member of the project team can now load, interrogate and view the entire data set without needing extensive software training. Once the imagery was fully rectified using PCI Easi-Pace, the process of geo-referencing was a simple exercise; each image, stored as a TIFF file, requiring two reference points to be entered with rotation and positioning then applied automatically. Crop-mark interpretation plots were digitised on the same base grid using a simple four-point transform and then draped onto a 3D model built from spot-heights and survey points. The facility for viewing the data set draped over a 3D model from any angle or elevation provides a much clearer basis for seeing the landscape context of the features than could be created using conventional paper mapping techniques. The fully integrated data resulting from this aspect of the work undertaken in Heslerton provides the basis for broader contextual interpretation of the major excavations undertaken within the project area. The data set is not static, but forms a foundation upon which future research, management and preservation issues can be addressed through addition, evaluation and analysis; analysis which can most often be undertaken through clear visual assessment rather than complex computer-based analysis. Already this process has required us to re-evaluate interpretations made over a decade ago, discarding one view of the landscape to replace it with a more extensive and detailed picture, a picture which we hope will further evolve as more data come to light either through random discovery or targeted research.
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Internet Archaeology
Last updated: Wed Apr 23 1997