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Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies

University of Arkansas

Resources

Home » Research » Archaeology/Historic Preservation » Archaeological Informatics » PaleoInformatics » Resources

The Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST) has a broad range of resources available to support paleoinformatics. These include the Center's extensive server and workstations, multiple software solutions covering such areas as animation (e.g. SoftImage, Studio 3DS), databases (e.g. Oracle 11g, SQL Server, MySQL), image processing (e.g. ERDAS Imagine, PCI Geomatica, Definiens eCognition),  and many others. There are a number of research instruments avaialble which includes long and short range laser scanners, multiple geophysical instruments, survey grade GPS and many others. The center has developing an Internet accessible central repository/database of high density (aka laser scanning) data, the Invirment system virtual archeology resources as well as the University of Arkansas Resource Center for Heritage Visualization, to promote use, education, communication, and development of a knowledge base of the practice of archeological visualization and virtual archeology. Visualization methods and virtual reality technologies have been underutilized by American archeologists (Niccolucci 2002). This circumstance exists despite the benefits of these techniques, declining cost of computer hardware and software, and advances in the quality of results in recent years.

Scientific visualization, a standard investigative tool in the physical and natural sciences (Hall 1994), is a methodological approach which uses computer generated representations of data to improve understanding (Visualization Research Group, School of Computer Studies, Leeds University). As Tufte noted in 1992, the human brain processes visual information much more efficiently than textual, numerical or even diagrammatic data. In contrast to maps and diagrams which present what is 'known', the computer graphics and digital models that comprise visualizations provide an environment for creative investigation of data sets and data structure and exploration of alternative interpretations with the goal of gaining insight into the data (Unwin and Fisher Case Studies).

Our goal is to develop a methodologically centered web site that provides virtual archeology and archeological visualization resources. The site includes content that focuses on visualization for research, teaching, and public presentation. Virtual archeology promotes professional collaboration by more effectively sharing data and detailed models among researchers across the Internet (Roehl 1997). This includes not only passive displays, but also tools for querying the data. It allows classroom students and distance learners to visually explore archeological worlds that traditionally exist only at the level of mental reconstructions (Earnshaw and Wiseman 1992, Brodlie et al. 1993). Visualizations also provide compelling and exciting presentations of scientific data for museums, interpretive centers, and general public consumption.