Installation and user guide for the 2010A Open Source release of BGS SIGMAmobile
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Abstract:
This report serves as an installation and introductory user guide to
BGS·SIGMAmobile, which is an application for digital geoscience field data
collection developed within the British Geological Survey’s SIGMA (System for
Integrated Geoscience Mapping) programme within the Earth & Planetary
Observation & Monitoring Team. This document provides installation instructions,
followed by a brief guide to using the application. In BGS we provide our field staff
with a two-day training course, and while this guide does not replace that, it is hoped
that these instructions will provide a basis for successful use of BGS·SIGMAmobile
in your organisation.
BGS·SIGMAmobile is designed to run in the field on rugged Tablet PCs, but can also
be used on a laptop or a desktop PC. The system is a heavily customised ArcGIS 9.3.1
(service pack 1) and MSAccess application. The user must have a licensed copy of
ArcView ArcGIS and MSAccess 2003, BGS does not supply these. The system will
run with MSAccess2007 but the database must be stored as a 2002-2003 .mdb file
otherwise it will not be compatible with ArcGIS. It is fully tested on the Windows XP
operating system; BGS does not currently use the Windows 7 operating system and
therefore no testing of the system on Windows 7 has taken place.
The BGS uses the application on several models of Tablet PC including Itronix
GoBooks, Xplore iX104s and GETAC V100’s. This guide does not provide
instructions to its use on specific hardware platforms.
BGS staff have used the system for mapping in locations including the UK, Ghana,
Madagascar, Tajikistan, the Antarctic and the U.S.A. We use it as part of a workflow
of other customised BGS-developed systems that enables us to:
1. automatically collate spatial information from our databases,
2. interpret new data from satellite imagery and digital photogrammetry,
3. take our baseline and interpreted data to the field,
4. populate corporate databases with our field data,
5. build 3D digital models and visualisations,
6. output our data in formats such as maps.
Further information on these steps is available from the BGS website at
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/technologies_epo.html. Only the field system has been
supplied in this Open Source agreement so you will need to build/define your own
methods for integrating BGS·SIGMAmobile into your mapping workflow.Keywords:
Laptop
File format
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This paper presents the results of the Sangro Valley Project’s (SVP) deployment of a paperless recording system in a mixed environment of excavation and survey. It also discusses some advances made in archaeological photography. Finally, it presents preliminary results from ongoing experiments with automatically generating Harris Matrices from a FileMaker Pro database and with using iPads and iPhones as GPS units for survey. Over its first sixteen years the SVP employed various formats to record, store, manage, and analyze its data. The opening of a new site in 2011 provided an opportunity to reconceive the project’s data systems. The University of Cincinnati’s Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia pioneered the use of Apple’s iPad in 2010 for paperless recording of basic excavation data. Building upon their success, the SVP developed and implemented its integrated paperless recording system in FileMaker on both laptop computers and iPads. The paperless system pushes digitization of data into the field—replacing traditional recording on paper forms, followed by subsequent transcription into computer systems, with direct data entry into the database format. Data about each context, small find, environmental sample, and level were captured in the field using the FileMaker Go app on iPads. Later, specialists in the labs entered more detailed information about small finds, pottery, tile, and other items into the server-based FileMaker Pro database. Each of the two survey teams used iPads to record data as well. Another area of workflow improvement was in site photography. Previously, documentation photos of the site taken during excavation were captured with digital cameras, with the images subsequently uploaded, labeled, captioned, and stored on a server. As the season progressed the field supervisors tended to defer these processes, leading to errors. To remedy this, the project employed the Eye-Fi Connect X2, an SD camera memory card with built-in WiFi and associated software. This technology enables direct communication between the cameras and iPads, allowing photographs to be immediately labeled and captioned in the field, and enabling a significant improvement in accuracy. The new technology quickly proved to have many advantages over traditional recording methods—much quicker exchange of information between the field personnel and specialists; immediate labeling and captioning of photos taken in the field; a significant decrease in human error through automation; improved consistency of terminology by using a structured vocabulary of options; increased efficiency by eliminating the need to scan and digitize paper records; an increase in the accessibility of information to all staff members; and improved back up. The paperless system proved to be a resounding success. It was used for excavation, two survey projects, and recording by specialists. While there were some growing pains, the benefits far outweighed the costs. For any large archaeological project, data organization is critical. The flexibility of both the hardware and software allowed the SVP to finally integrate several types of research into a single, cohesive database. This approach has enormous potential to revolutionize the way archaeological data is collected, managed, analyzed, and disseminated.
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