Sense and Practicality: Building a Historical GIS Online

This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities of creating an online Geographic Information System (GIS) presenting archaeological and historical data. For the purposes of this paper, the focus is on a research-driven GIS that gets its data from various different sources (mainly publications and documentation from relevant excavations and surveys) but has a topical point of convergence (in the case study presented here, archaeological markers of religions in Roman Judaea). The requirements are different from those encountered when building a GIS for the documentation of a single archaeological project, or a GIS mainly intended for storage of a diverse range of maps, satellite imagery, etc. that cover a certain geographical area. While the main function of a research-driven GIS of the type described above is to provide a basis for spatial analysis, it also offers a convenient vehicle for presenting the data and its interpretations online to reach a wide audience, scholarly or otherwise. A successful online presentation of such a GIS requires a sound technical implementation, including a user-friendly interface. On the other hand, the substance of the GIS should not be overshadowed by the visual presentation. One also needs to carefully consider copyright issues and publication permissions as the data comes from various sources. This paper attempts to present workable practical and technical solutions to these questions. A work-in-progress version of the GIS used as a case study here will be available online before the SBL Annual Meeting 2011 at http://jmsaukkonen.org/JudaeaGIS.