RAMSES: A Mobile Computing System for Field Archaeology (original) (raw)
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Mobile Computing for Real Time Support in Archaeological Excavations
1997
The paper presents a joint ongoing project between archaeologists and computer scientists at the University of Genova. The goal of the cooperation is the development of a hardware/software integrated system to be applied to stratigraphic excavation; such a system is based on two new technologies: wireless mobile computing and pen-based man-machine interfaces.
0.2. Mobile Computing in Archaeology: Exploring and Interpreting Current Practices
2016
This volume stems from the workshop, "Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: the Future of Digital Archaeology," funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Start-Up grant (#HD-51851-14), which took place 27-28 February 2015 at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston (http://uwm.edu/mobilizing-the-past/). The workshop, organized by this volume's editors, was largely spurred by our own attempts with developing a digital archaeological workflow using mobile tablet computers on the Athienou Archaeological Project (http://aap.toumazou.org; Gordon et al., Ch. 1.4) and our concern for what the future of a mobile and digital archaeology might be. Our initial experiments were exciting, challenging, and rewarding; yet, we were also frustrated by the lack of intra-disciplinary discourse between projects utilizing digital approaches to facilitate archaeological data recording and processing. Based on our experiences, we decided to initiate a dialogue that could inform our own work and be of use to other projects struggling with similar challenges. Hence, the "Mobilizing the Past" workshop concept was born and a range of digital archaeologists, working in private and academic settings in both Old World and New World archaeology, were invited to participate. In addition, a livestream of the workshop allowed the active participation on Twitter from over 21 countires, including 31 US states (@MobileArc15, #MobileArc). 1 * * * No multifaceted academic endeavor like Mobilizing the Past can be realized without the support of a range of institutions and individ
EXPLOITING WIRELESS NETWORKS FOR VIRTUAL ARCHAEOLOGY: THE PAST PROJECT
2000
Under the IST 5 th Framework Programme, the EU has funded PAST, a project aimed at exploiting wireless computer networks in archaeological fields, to improve the understanding of the general public of what is visible in an archaeological site. Project participants include three archaeological sites, Bibracte in France, Toumba in Greece and Passo di Corvo in Italy; researchers of Computer Science and archaeology; and three technological companies. In this paper, the point of view of one such site, that of Passo di Corvo, shall be taken to illustrate project aims. The objective is to develop at the three sites a system which is able to adapt the suggestion of a visit path to the wishes and needs of various dynamic user profiles. Explanations on what is visible is dependent on the location of the user, which the system is able to detect in real time, as well as on user profile and history of the visit. The user may also connect to other information sources for a better understanding of the archaeological evidence, for example to a local museum where the finds have been stored, or to other sites in the PAST network to find information about related subjects (e. g. how did they cook? how did they bury the dead?). The project shall exploit available technologies like voice interaction in order to provide tourist assistance at varying level of details. The methodology defined for PAST will make this experience reproducible to other archaeological sites which may connect to the network when the system will be operational (prototypes at end of 2001).
Wearable Computing for Field Archaeology
2001
Following a successful field trial in the Tiber Valley, just North of Rome in Italy, it became apparent that wearable computing could potentially have a major role to play in the collection of data on archaeological sites. This work is focussed on providing in-field support for archaeologists, by the application of wearable technologies. Since there are many technologies already in use for collecting information out in the field, this work attempts to provide the key to connect together all of these technologies. A wearable field assistant was seen as a sensible central technology round which to base an information and communications infrastructure that could ultimately lead to savings in both cost and time and would hopefully maintain or even increase the ability to record accurate data in the field.
In February 2015, a workshop on the current state of mobile computing in archaeology and the future of digital archaeological workflows—entitled Mobilizing the Past—was convened at Wentworth Institute of Technology. The workshop’s purpose was to bring together pioneers in archaeology and computing to discuss the development and use of mobile device technology to advance digital archaeology, i.e., fully digital recording systems aimed at creating born-digital data in the field in ways that advance projects’ research agendas. Archaeologists working at sites around the globe, including those in Israel and Cyprus, shared their insights and critiques on digital field recording techniques, tools for on-site spatial and imaging analysis, workflows, student pedagogy, as well as systems of data management and long-term curation. This paper’s goal is to share the workshop’s results in order to challenge Near Eastern archaeologists to think about how mobile computing workflows impact the practice and interpretive value of archaeology. Papers presented at the Mobilizing the Past workshop brought to light the pros and cons of converting to digital or “paperless” workflows, and also the issues and challenges that will likely dominate the discourse on future attempts to digitize archaeological data “at the trowel’s edge” including: time management, cost, data quality and quantity, systems’ design, usability, and interpretive power, and data democratization. Overall, this paper sheds light on the best practices in mobile computing in archaeology that emerged from the workshop and emphasizes their potential to improve current archaeological practices.
ARCH DATA APK: Mobile computing in the service of archaeological research
Journal of Greek Archaeology, 2024
The ARCH_DATA application is a mobile computing application developed with the aim of creating a more manageable and simplified process of data collection through archaeological field survey. The name comes from ‘Archaeological Data’ and refers to the application’s archaeological survey functions. It’s a program for collecting, analyzing, and maintaining all of the field survey’s data –archaeological, cultural, and environmental. Furthermore, it creates a geospatial archaeological database that is simple to integrate into a GIS environment. The ARCH_DATA application has a number of benefits, first and foremost its simplicity of use. Like all mobile applications, it only requires the user to have a mobile device as their primary logging device. It adapts to the requirements of each archaeological survey by simply modifying the fields of interest to correspond to the demands of each team. There is no limit to the number of entries a user can import, and there is no restriction on the number of people who can use the app at the same time.