Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:06:50.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Using the ArcGIS Collector Mobile App for Settlement Survey Data Collection in Armenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2020

Ian Lindsay Open the ORCID record for Ian Lindsay [Opens in a new window]  and
Ningning Nicole Kong Open the ORCID record for Ningning Nicole Kong [Opens in a new window]
Ian Lindsay*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, 700 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN47907, USA
Ningning Nicole Kong
Affiliation:
Libraries and School of Information Studies, Purdue University, 340 Centennial Mall Drive, West Lafayette, 47907, IN, USA
*
([email protected], corresponding author)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent years have seen the rapid adoption of digital site recording strategies following the proliferation of GPS-enabled mobile devices and data collection apps. Much of the emerging literature on digital—or paperless—archaeology, however, has focused on excavation contexts, with fewer discussions of mobile-GIS solutions on archaeological survey. This article discusses the design and implementation of a site survey workflow based on Esri's ArcGIS Collector mobile app in the context of Project ArAGATS's Kasakh Valley Archaeology Survey in northwestern Armenia. The Collector app provides a simple, map-centric user interface that allows surveyors with little-to-no GIS experience to record site locations, enter attribute data on customized digital forms, and attach photographs. With a network connection, the Collector app instantly uploads site information as GIS data to the project geodatabase and refreshes the data across surveyors’ mobile devices. Although the Collector app lacks certain GIS features and requires an institutional Esri license, we found that the native integration with our project GIS and broad access to visualization and recording tools in the app made in-field decision-making and interpretation more collaborative and inclusive across the survey team.

En los últimos años se han adoptado con rapidez estrategias de registro digital en yacimientos tras la proliferación de dispositivos móviles con GPS y aplicaciones de recopilación de datos. Sin embargo, gran parte de la literatura emergente sobre arqueología digital o sin papel se ha centrado en los contextos de excavación, con pocas investigaciones en soluciones de SIG móvil aplicables a la prospección arqueológica. Este documento aborda el diseño y la implementación de un proceso de trabajo en la exploración de yacimientos, basado en la aplicación móvil Collector del Instituto de Investigación de Sistemas Ambientales (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Esri) para ArcGIS en el contexto del Proyecto ArAGATS's Kasakh Valley Archaeology Survey que se lleva a cabo en el noroeste de Armenia. La aplicación Collector provee una interfaz de usuario simple que se basa en un mapa y que permite a los topógrafos con poca o ninguna experiencia en SIG registrar las ubicaciones de los lugares, ingresar datos de atributos en formularios digitales personalizados y adjuntar fotografías. Con una conexión de red, la aplicación Collector carga instantáneamente la información del lugar como datos de SIG a la base de datos geográficos del proyecto y actualiza la información en los dispositivos móviles de todos los topógrafos. Si bien la aplicación Collector carece de ciertas características de SIG y requiere de una licencia institucional del Esri, encontramos que la integración natural con nuestro proyecto SIG y el amplio acceso a las herramientas de visualización y grabación en la aplicación hizo que la toma de decisiones durante el trabajo de campo y la interpretación fueran más colaborativas e inclusivas en todo el equipo de investigación.

Keywords

digital archaeologygeographic information systems (GIS)mobile GISsettlement surveySouth CaucasusArmeniaarqueología digitalsistemas de información geográfica (SIG)SIG móvilpatrones de asentamientosCáucaso SurArmenia
Type
Articles
Information
Advances in Archaeological Practice , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , November 2020 , pp. 322 - 336
Copyright
Copyright 2020 © Society for American Archaeology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

Averett, Erin Walcek, Gordon, Jody Michael, and Counts, Derek B. (editors) 2016 Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future. University of North Dakota Digital Press, Grand Forks.Google Scholar
Badalyan, Ruben, Greene, Alan F., Harutyunyan, Armine, Khatchadourian, Lori, Lindsay, Ian, Marshall, Maureen, and Smith, Adam T. 2020 Project ArAGATS 1998–2018: Twenty Years of Archaeological Investigations into the Bronze and Iron Ages of Armenia. Aramazd: Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies X:61–81.Google Scholar
Badalyan, Ruben, Smith, Adam T., Lindsay, Ian, Harutyunyan, Armine, Greene, Alan, Marshall, Maureen, Monahan, Belinda, and Hovsepyan, Roman 2014 A Preliminary Report on the 2008, 2010, and 2011 Investigations of Project ArAGATS on the Tsaghkahovit Plain, Republic of Armenia. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 46:149–222.Google Scholar
Badalyan, Ruben, Smith, Adam T., Lindsay, Ian, Khatchadourian, Lori, and Avetisyan, Pavel 2008 Village, Fortress, and Town in Bronze and Iron Age Southern Caucasia: A Preliminary Report on the 2003–2006 Investigations of Project ArAGATS on the Tsaghkahovit Plain, Republic of Armenia. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 40:45–105.Google Scholar
Banning, E. B., and Hitchings, Philip 2015 Digital Archaeological Survey. SAA Archaeological Record 15(4):31–36.Google Scholar
Caraher, William 2016 Slow Archaeology: Technology, Efficiency, and Archaeological Work. In Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: The Potential of Digital Archaeology, edited by Averett, Erin Walcek, Gordon, Jody Michael, and Counts, Derek B., pp. 421–442. University of North Dakota Digital Press, Grand Forks.Google Scholar
Cascalheira, João, Bicho, Nuno, and Goncalves, Célia 2017 A Google-Based Freeware Solution for Archaeological Field Survey and Onsite Artifact Analysis. Advances in Archaeological Practice 5:328–339.Google Scholar
Cascalheira, João, Goncalves, Célia, and Bicho, Nuno 2014 Smartphones and the Use of Customized Apps in Archaeological Projects. SAA Archaeological Record 14(5):20–25.Google Scholar
Fee, Samuel B. 2016 Reflections on Custom Mobile App Development for Archaeological Data Collection, edited by Averett, Erin Walcek, Gordon, Jody Michael, and Counts, Derek B., pp. 237–250. University of North Dakota Digital Press, Grand Forks.Google Scholar
Fee, Samuel B., Pettegrew, David K., and Caraher, William 2013 Taking Mobile Computing to the Field. Near Eastern Archaeology 76:50–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Jody Michael, Averett, Erin Walcek, and Counts, Derek B. 2016 Mobile Computing in Archaeology: Exploring and Interpreting Current Practices. In Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: The Potential of Digital Archaeology, edited by Averett, Erin Walcek, Gordon, Jody Michael, and Counts, Derek B., pp. 1–32. University of North Dakota Digital Press, Grand Forks.Google Scholar
Gordon, Jody Michael, Averett, Erin Walcek, Counts, Derek B., Koo, Kyosung, and Toumazou, Michael K. 2016 DIY Digital Workflows on the Athienou Archaeological Project, Cyprus. In Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: The Potential of Digital Archaeology, edited by Averett, Erin Walcek, Gordon, Jody Michael, and Counts, Derek B., pp. 111–142. University of North Dakota Digital Press, Grand Forks.Google Scholar
Jackson, Sarah E., Motz, Christopher F., and Brown, Linda A. 2016 Pushing the Paperless Envelope. Advances in Archaeological Practice 4:176–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knodell, Alex R., Alcock, Susan E., Tuttle, Christopher A., Cloke, Christian F., Erickson-Gini, Tali, Feldman, Cecelia, Rollefson, Gary O., Sinibaldi, Micaela, Urban, Thomas M., and Vella, Clive 2017 The Brown University Petra Archaeological Project: Landscape Archaeology in the Northern Hinterland of Petra, Jordan. American Journal of Archaeology 121:621–663.Google Scholar
Lindsay, Ian, and Greene, Alan 2013 Sovereignty, Mobility, and Political Cartographies in Late Bronze Age Southern Caucasia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32:691–712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, Colleen, and Eve, Stuart 2012 DIY and Digital Archaeology: What Are You Doing to Participate? World Archaeology 44:521–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roosevelt, Christopher H., Cobb, Peter, Moss, Emanuel, Olson, Brandon R., and Ünlüsoy, Sinan 2015 Excavation Is Destruction Digitization: Advances in Archaeological Practice. Journal of Field Archaeology 40:325–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sayre, Matthew 2016 Digital Archaeology in the Rural Andes: Problems and Prospects, edited by Averett, Erin Walcek, Gordon, Jody Michael, and Counts, Derek B., pp. 183–199. University of North Dakota Digital Press, Grand Forks.Google Scholar
Sharp, Kayeleigh, and Litschi, Melissa 2014 Maximizing E-Data Collection. Advances in Archaeological Practice 2:104–122.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam T. 2012 The Caucasus and the Near East. In A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, edited by Potts, D. T., pp. 668–686. Wiley-Blackwell, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Adam T., Badalyan, Ruben S., and Avetisyan, Pavel 2009 The Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies I: Regional Survey in the Tsaghkahovit Plain, Armenia. Oriental Institute Publications, Chicago.Google Scholar
Spigelman, Matthew, Roberts, Ted, and Fehrenbach, Shawn 2016 The Development of the PaleoWay Digital Workflows in the Context of Archaeological Consulting. In Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: The Potential of Digital Archaeology, edited by Averett, Erin Walcek, Gordon, Jody Michael, and Counts, Derek B., pp. 399–418. University of North Dakota Digital Press, Grand Forks.Google Scholar
Tripcevich, Nicholas 2004 Flexibility by Design: How Mobile GIS Meets the Needs of Archaeological Survey. Cartography and Geographic Information Science 31:137–151.Google Scholar
Tripcevich, Nicholas, and Wernke, Steven A. 2010 On-Site Recording of Excavation Data Using Mobile GIS. Journal of Field Archaeology 35:380–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VanValkenburgh, Parker, Silva, Luiza O. G., Repetti-Ludlow, Chiara, Gardner, Jake, Crook, Jackson, and Ballsun-Stanton, Brian 2018 Mobilization as Mediation: Implementing a Tablet-Based Recording System for Ceramic Classification. Advances in Archaeological Practice 6:342–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, Matthew L., Kuester, Falko, and Levy, Thomas E. 2014 OpenDig: Digital Field Archeology, Curation, Publication, and Dissemination. Near Eastern Archaeology 77:204–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, Mark D., Dumontier, Michel, Aalbersberg, Ijsbrand J., Appleton, Gabrielle, Axton, Myles, Baak, Arie, Niklas Blomberg, Jan-Willem Boiten, Luiz Bonino da Silva Santos, Philip E. Bourne, Jildau Bouwman, Anthony J. Brookes, Tim Clark, Mercè Crosas, Ingrid Dillo, Olivier Dumon, Scott Edmunds, Chris T. Evelo, Richard Finkers, Alejandra Gonzalez-Beltran, Alasdair J.G. Gray, Paul Groth, Carole Goble, Jeffrey S. Grethe, Jaap Heringa, Peter A.C. ’t Hoen, Rob Hooft, Tobias Kuhn, Ruben Kok, Joost Kok, Scott J. Lusher, Maryann E. Martone, Albert Mons, Abel L. Packer, Bengt Persson, Philippe Rocca-Serra, Marco Roos, Rene van Schaik, Susanna-Assunta Sansone, Erik Schultes, Thierry Sengstag, Ted Slater, George Strawn, Morris A. Swertz, Mark Thompson, Johan van der Lei, Erik van Mulligen, Jan Velterop, Andra Waagmeester, Peter Wittenburg, Katherine Wolstencroft, Jun Zhao, and Barend Mons 2016 Comment: The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship. Scientific Data 3:1–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: PDF

Lindsay and Kong supplementary material

Lindsay and Kong supplementary material 1

Download Lindsay and Kong supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 181.6 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Lindsay and Kong supplementary material

Lindsay and Kong supplementary material 2

Download Lindsay and Kong supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 246.2 KB