Digital archaeology field recording in the 4th dimension: ArchField C++ a 4D GIS for digital field work

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Authors
Smith, Neil G.
Howland, Matthew D.
Levy, Thomas E.
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Issue Date
2015-09-28
Type
Conference paper
Keywords
Three-dimensional displays , Software , Rendering (computer graphics) , Data visualization , Databases , Global Positioning System , Cameras , Archaeology , Cultural heritage , Scientific visualization , Structure from motion , LiDAR , Geographic information systems (GIS) , Level-of-Detail , Digital field recording
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N. G. Smith, M. Howland and T. E. Levy, "Digital archaeology field recording in the 4th dimension: ArchField C++ a 4D GIS for digital field work," 2015 Digital Heritage, Granada, Spain, 2015, pp. 251-258, doi: 10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2015.7419505.
Abstract

With the rapid adoption of laser scanning and photogrammetry among the archaeological community the creation of point cloud `data scaffolds' and digital documentation of archaeological sites is now becoming common. In field excavations, however, the continual exposure of archaeological layers requires a digital toolset in which to record, categorize and spatially locate artifacts, installations, and loci within a site's daily 3D or aerial scan. We present ArchField C++, the latest version of our digital field recording software that enables real-time digital GIS 3D Top Plan production within a rendering engine designed for visualizing massive 3D datasets. ArchField directly connects to Total Stations and our RTK GPS units to record sub-centimeter measurements for artifacts, scanning markers, loci boundaries, and camera positions. The processing pipeline enables the generation of publishable orthographic and perspective maps from the first day of excavation to the last. As a backend it uses a PostGIS database and the ability to export and import various vector, raster, DEM and 3D datasets that can be hosted by on-line geo-referenced databases. We present the application of ArchField C++ to our 2014 field excavations of the early Iron Age site of Khirbat al-Jariyah located in Southern Jordan.

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Published in: 2015 Digital Heritage
Date Added to IEEE Xplore: 25 February 2016
Date of Conference: 28 September 2015 - 02 October 2015
Conference Location: Granada, Spain
Publisher
IEEE
Journal
2015 Digital Heritage
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