Archeos-dev Digest, Vol 16, Issue 6

Mon Feb 14 15:25:21 CET 2011

Hello everybody,
Hello Ricardo,

I think your point is essentiel.  When I put up the question for a db, i was
thought more about an excavation management tool, than an gis project.

Some personel comment of mine to the projects you named:

Integrated Archaeological Database project
This seems for me like a near perfect solution, but I don't know if the
technical specifications are not to high for a common archaeologist:
- setting up a web-server (?) myself, even when i use it just localy
- do i have allways an internet connection, to have a server running
somewhere abroad
- webservices respond often very slowly
- the main question for me ist not realy answerd: interoperability of the
data (export in other formats)

Nabonidus
There are about the same questions as above, and what i see crucial are the
terms of use: only academic and non profit organisations.
Second the data is stored somewhere on the project-server (i think so)

ArchaeoCAD
is not an database, contrary to ArchaeoDATA from the same firm.
It is a special AutoCAD version, with many tools regarding the drawing
documetation of the excavation.  Main tool of it, is an import tool for
tachymetric data to draw automatically the plan.
Very interessting here, the pricing of the product, plus the costs for
AutoCAD (you mostly need always the newest version), this beats you the nuts
out. Sorry for ....
I worked for this firm for a while, the product is well working, but the
costs are exceptionel.

ArchaeoDATA
a little bit buggy, worked with it, when i was with Arctron. I have heard,
that they are on the way to change from Access to Postgres.  But anyway, the
product rest some way expencive.

You can find a similar software like ArchaeoCAD under www.singularch.de
Much, very much cheaper, some interesting features (mobile device etc.),
dababase included; but still works only on windows, and Access.

Another commercial project is www.adjuvabit.de
There are some interessting screenshot on their page.
I was once making an excavatoin using their version 1.2
It is using an Access-DB as DBM, but you can export data also in xml.
Don't know about the actual pricing, about 5 years ago it cost, i think
about +-1500 Euro.

Stratify
can be intergrated in databases, so done in a db for the Regional Service in
Sachsen-Anhalt.
They use a Access bases DB.  Could provide a .mde version, to have a look at
it.
Actually i am working for them, but i don't know for their terms of use.
Structure etc. is not to bad. Problem: very big projects are hard to handle.
It was not realy designed to use in a network, even if we do so, with the
risk to loose data some times.

You can find another non-commercial project in Germany under
digitdatenbank.de
This access based db was designed to analyse great amounts of complex
excavation data. It comes with it, that the use of this db is some what
realy complicated.  The developer was working the data of his doctoral
thesis on late bronze age settlements ...

That is about all I know about db use in archaeology (the interessting
ones):
- their are some homebrewed db in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- some archaeological firms have made their own systems, often designed
especially for their work flow

Conclusion, for myself I don't know about OpenSource Excavation managing
tools, at almost in Germany.  And I agree this could help many people in a
great way, because we all are collection and sorting data, but programming
the software to do this in an efficient way ... This does show me my limits,
like to many others.

Greetings
Marcus

2011/2/14 <archeos-dev-request@lists.linux.it>

> Send Archeos-dev mailing list submissions to
>        archeos-dev@lists.linux.it
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>        http://lists.linux.it/listinfo/archeos-dev
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>        archeos-dev-request@lists.linux.it
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
>        archeos-dev-owner@lists.linux.it
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Archeos-dev digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. re:Archeos-dev Digest, Vol 16, Issue 4 (Ricardo Gaid?o)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:45:07 -0800 (PST)
> From: Ricardo Gaid?o <caioviator@yahoo.com.br>
> Subject: re:Archeos-dev Digest, Vol 16, Issue 4
> To: archeos-dev@lists.linux.it
> Message-ID: <45173.64537.qm@web110509.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> I really don't know if we are talking about two different web gis, with
> different goals:
>
> 1) A digital inventory based in GIS. Allowing to georeference and manage
> archaeological sites, providing for each: category, description, legal
> status, photos, drawings (...)
>
> or
>
> 2) A archaeological excavation management tool. A software that can
> describe and organize archaeological stratigraphic units, their relations,
> artifacts inventory and graphic records in a similar way like:
>
> Integrated Archaeological Database project
> http://www.iadb.org.uk/
>
> Nabonidus
> http://www.nabonidus.org/features.aspx)
>
> ArchaeoCAD
> http://www.arctron.com/Software/System_Overview/
>
> Stratify
> http://www.stratify.org/
>
> The Open Archaeology Software Suite (developing stage?)
> http://openarchaeology.net/contents/about
> https://launchpad.net/openarchaeology
>
> or Harris Matrix Composer?
> http://www.harrismatrixcomposer.com/harris/
>
> There aren't many free/open, functional excavation management tools. The
> creation of such project would make easy the life of archaeologists around
> the globe and make more easy for them to share information, using common
> standards and open formats.
>
> I think this option is very useful and even necessary. I don't see why
> Archaeology is different from sciences like Geography in the adoption of
> standard scientific criteria.
>
> Chronological and regional particularities are always accessory and not
> crucial. In a database they can be turned off in contexts where they don't
> apply.
>
> ==============================
>
> Fabrizio Furnari said:
>
> Hi all,
> I apologize in advance for my ignorance on this as I'm not an
> archaeologist;
> in this moment I'll try only to put some questions about this project.
> The first question is about the market "our" software will try to break:
> aren't any specifical webgis for this that can be adapted for our purposes?
> I think we could be in competition with other minor softwares present on
> the
> scene...
>
> The other question is about the possibility to extend the software to
> comply
> with other countries/research team specification. Do you think will be
> possible to set up a full-purpose database with features that can be
> activated/deactivated on the fly to match the situation's requests?
>
> Last but not least I propose, to start this project that could be hardly
> bound to archeos, to use our github space to host the code/issues/wiki. As
> usual the URL is https://github.com/archeos/ just let me know...
>
> Fabrizio
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Archeos-dev mailing list
> Archeos-dev@lists.linux.it
> http://lists.linux.it/listinfo/archeos-dev
>
>
> End of Archeos-dev Digest, Vol 16, Issue 6
> ******************************************
>

-- 
---------------------------------------
marcus schneider m.a.
dipl. präh. francoise chaput
rotkehlchenweg 31
d - 14641 wustermark
033234 22147
---------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.linux.it/pipermail/archeos-dev/attachments/20110214/cf61d054/attachment-0001.htm>