Archaeological Geomatics
Anthropology 3283:30-5:45 PM Thursdays
Spring Semester 2005
Dr. Scott MadryResearch Associate Professor of Anthropology, UNC-CH Madrys@email.unc.edu http://www.informatics.org/anthromadry.html http://www.informatics.org/anth328 ~ Main page ~ Schedule ~ Web Resources ~ Bibliography ~
Introduction:
This lab will consist of your using ArcGIS to browse through the various GIS layers of the Duval county GIS database, and to use the various ArcGIS tools that you learned in the first lab. It will also explore various GIS data types and sources.
You can visit the Duval county online GIS viewer
First: Put the CD with the data in your computer. You can run it from the CD. Next, start ArcMap and go to:
CD/Duval
Open the folder Duval_ArcGIS_Madry. This is the directory that contains the Duval database. The database contains raster, vector, and point data of Duval county. This is only a fraction of the total database, only the files that were actually used in the final analysis.
In ArcMap, go to file ->open.
Then click on the Duval_Madry.mxd. This is the GIS database. Once you clikck on this, the various layers should load, and you can look at different layers.
"Data, data, data, he cried! I can't make bricks without clay!"-Sherlock Holmes
Standard GIS data for archaeology include elevation, slope, aspect, hydrology, soils, geology, modern land use and land cover, property ownership, and more. In this lab we will consider GIS data types and sources.
There are a variety of sources of GIS data in the US, the choices are much more limited (or at least much more expensive) in western europe, and virtually nonexistant in most of the world.
The Duval dataset was unusual, as it was provided to me in a finished format. We usually have to search for our data, reformat, struggle, curse, etc.
First, lets look at the archaeological site data. Review the data, use ArcGIS to locate individual sites, etc.
Then lets look at the SSURGO soils data. To review the source of the data look at:
USGS Seamless GIS data distribution server
Geographic information North Carolina
Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to construct a small GIS database with data from various sources that will function in the ArcGIS environment for the next class. The data should be of the same projection, datum, etc. We will review these at our next class, be prepared to show to the class your data, sources, issues, etc. Good luck!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
See you next week, when we will continue working with the Duval dataset.
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