About Propylaeum-Dok | Viewer | Contact | Imprint |
  1. HOME
  2. Search
  3. Fulltext search
  4. Browse
  5. Recent Items rss
  6. Publish
  7. Englisch

Expanding scales in GIS analysis

Šmejda, Ladislav

In: Posluschny, A. ; Lambers, K. ; Herzog, I. (Hrsgg.): Layers of Perception. Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Berlin, 2.-6. April, 2007 (Koll. Vor- u. Frühgesch. 10). Bonn 2008 283 (Abstract)

[thumbnail of 08_16_smejda_comments.pdf] PDF, English
Download (1MB) | Terms of use
For citations of this document, please do not use the address displayed in the URL prompt of the browser. Instead, please cite with one of the following:

Abstract

I propose to argue that the widely perceived opposition between a “site scale” and “regional scale” in GIS analysis is not an optimal classification in archaeological practice. While stressing the importance of the conceptual separation of terms describing the dead and the living cultures I will suggest that projects should be approached in accordance to their theoretical background rather than their geographical extent. Since archaeological data is usually severely biased in diverse aspects, new analytical “scales” will be introduced into the debate, which allow to address questions previously inaccessible in GIS analysis. This approach is based on descriptive databases viewed as multi-dimensional spaces, regardless of the presence or absence of geographic coordinates. This paper concludes that useful GIS outputs need not look like decorative maps of the physical landscape, or distribution maps of finds, but that they can also present formalized abstract models built by the framework of a newly-coined term “fact space”.

Document type: Book Section
Version: Secondary publication
Date Deposited: 14 Apr 2010 12:35
Faculties / Institutes: Research Project, Working Group > Individuals
DDC-classification: Alte Geschichte, Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Archäologie
Subject (Propylaeum): Prehistoric Archaeology
Classical Archaeology
Controlled Keywords: Archäologie, Informatik, Computerunterstütztes Verfahren, Computervisualistik, Interdisziplinäre Forschung, Geoinformationssystem
Subject (classification): History of the ancient world to ca. 499