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GIS Guide to Good Practice |
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3.1 Spatial data
Spatial data can be most simply defined as information that describes
the distribution of things upon the surface of the earth. In effect any
information concerning the location, shape of, and relationships among,
geographic features (Walker 1993;
DeMers 1997). In archaeology we routinely
deal with an enormous amount of spatial data, varying in scale from the
relative locations of archaeological sites upon a continental landmass
down to the positions of individual artefacts within an excavated context.
The first half of this section highlights the most important issues that
need to be considered in incorporating common sources of spatial data within
a GIS database. It comprises a short review of the particular issues that
relate to obtaining and integrating spatial data within the GIS database. This concentrates on
generic concerns such as projections, precision, accuracy
and scale and is followed by a consideration of more source-specific issues.
Throughout, the emphasis is upon the importance of carefully recording information
about the various data themes. |
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The right of Mark Gillings, Peter Halls, Gary Lock, Paul Miller, Greg Phillips, Nick Ryan, David Wheatley, and Alicia Wise to be identified as the Authors of this Work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All material supplied via the Arts and Humanities Data Service is protected by copyright, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of it is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your personal research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. Permission for any other use must be obtained from the Arts and Humanities Data Service(info@ahds.ac.uk). Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise, to any third party.
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