Institute of Archaeology
ARCLG091
GIS in Archaeology II
2015–2016
Co-ordinator: Dr Mark Lake
mark.lake@ucl.ac.uk
Room 115, Tel. 020 7679 1535 (Ext. 21535)
Contents
1 Overview
1.1 Short description . . . .
1.2 Week-by-week summary
1.3 Basic texts . . . . . . .
1.4 Method of assessment .
1.5 Teaching methods . . .
1.6 Workload . . . . . . . .
1.7 Prerequisites . . . . . .
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3 Schedule and syllabus
3.1 Teaching schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Detailed week-by-week syllabus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4 Online resources
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2 Aims, objectives and assessment
2.1 Aims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Learning outcomes . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 Coursework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.5 Word count and submission procedure
5 Additional information
5.1 Libraries and other resources
5.2 Attendance . . . . . . . . . .
5.3 Information for intercollegiate
5.4 Dyslexia . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5 Feedback . . . . . . . . . . .
5.6 Health and safety . . . . . . .
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and interdepartmental
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students
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6 Tutor
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7 Appendix: Institute of Archaelogy Coursework Procedures
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7.1 Granting of extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
This document and other resources are available from the course website:
http://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3479
2015–2016
1
1.1
ARCLG091
3
Overview
Short description
This course builds on the prerequisite module ARCLG090: Geographic Information Systems in Archaeology I (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/studying/masters/courses/
ARCLG090) to provide students with a theoretical grounding and practical experience in advanced uses of Geographic Informations Systems for archaeological purposes. There is a strong
emphasis on the manipulation of raster data and we consider landscape geomorphometry, viewshed analysis, cost surface analysis and hydrology, as well as 2.5D, 3D and temporal modelling,
and Internet GIS.
We make use of a wide range of both commercial and Open Source software, including
ArcGIS, ParaView, GRASS, Idrisi, Landserf and TauDEM. The course is taught using a combination of lectures, practical sessions and tutorials in the Institute’s AGIS laboratory. There
is an emphasis on comparative analysis of different algorithms and software implementations,
as well as a strong concern with how such techniques might be applied to solve substantive
archaeological problems. This course would particularly benefit those who wish to use GIS
primarily in an analytical capacity. It is assessed in three practical components and one essay.
1.2
Week-by-week summary
Week
1
2
3
4
5
–
6
7
8
9
10
1.3
Date
14 Jan
21 Jan
28 Jan
4 Feb
11 Feb
18 Feb
25 Feb
3 Mar
10 Mar
17 Mar
24 Mar
Subject
Point and spatial operations
Landscape Structure
Hydrological Analysis
Cost Surface Analysis
Advanced Cost Surfaces and Least Cost Paths
Reading week
Introduction to scripting
Viewshed Analysis
Advanced Viewshed Analysis
Temporal GIS
Internet GIS
Basic texts
Many of the techniques considered in this course are described in the following:
Bodenhamer, D. J., Corrigan, J. & Harris, T. M. (eds), 2010. The Spatial Humanities: GIS and
the Future of Humanities Scholarship. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.
[GEOGRAPHY D 68 BOD]
Burrough, P. A. and McDonnell, R. A., 1998. Principles of Geographic Information Systems.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. [INST ARCH AK 40 BUR, GEOGRAPHY D 60 BUR,
ENGINEERING D 80 BUR]
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ARCLG091
2015–2016
Chapman, H., 2006. Landscape archaeology and GIS. Tempus, Stroud, Gloucestershire. [INST
ARCH AK 40 CHA]
Conolly, J. and Lake, M. W., 2006. Geographical Information Systems in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1. [INST ARCH AK 40 CON]
Grohmann, C. H., 2004. Morphometric Analysis in Geographic Information Systems: Applications of Free Software GRASS and R. Computers & Geosciences 30: 1055–1067.
Longley, P. A., Goodchild, M. F., Maguire, D. J., and Rhind, D. W. (2001). Geographic
Information Systems and Science. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK. [GEOGRAPHY
D68 LON, INST ARCH AK 40 LON].
Turner, A., 2006. Introduction to Neogeography. O’Reilly, Sebastopol, California. [Available
online via UCL Explore]
Wheatley, D. and Gillings, M. (2002). Spatial Technology and Archaeology: The Archaeological
Applications of GIS. Taylor & Francis, New York. [INST ARCH AK 40 WHE].
Additional examples of archaeological applications can be found in:
Aldenderfer, M. and Maschner, H. D. G. editors (1996). Anthropology, Space and Geographic
Information Systems. Oxford University Press, New York. [INST ARCH AK 40 ALD]
Allen, K. M. S., Green, S. W., and Zubrow, E. B. W., editors (1990). Interpreting Space: GIS
and Archaeology. Taylor & Francis, London. [INST ARCH AK 40 ALL]
Bevan, A. and Lake, M., editors (2013). Computational Approaches to Archaeological Spaces.
Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California. [INST ARCH AK 30 BEV]
Gillings, M., Mattingly, D., and van Dalen, J., editors (1999). Geographical Information Systems and Landscape Archaeology, volume 3 of The Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes. Oxbow Books, Oxford. [INST ARCH AK 40 QTO BAR]
Papers in Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 19 (4), 2012.
Lock, G., editor (2000). Beyond the Map: Archaeology and Spatial Technologies. IOS Press,
Amsterdam. [INST ARCH AH LOC].
Lock, G. and Stancic, Z., editors (1995). Archaeology and Geographical Information Systems:
A European perspective. Taylor & Francis, London. [INST ARCH AK 40 LOC]
Maschner, H. D. G., editor (1996). New Methods, Old Problems. Geographic Information
Systems in Modern Archaeological Research, volume 23 of Occasional Paper. Southern
Illinois University Center for Archaeological Investigations, Carbondale. [ISSUE DESK
IOA MAS]
Paliou, E., Lieberwirth, U. and Polla, S., editors (2014). Spatial Analysis and Social Spaces:
Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Interpretation of Prehistoric and Historic Built Environments. De Gruyter, Berlin.
2015–2016
1.4
ARCLG091
5
Method of assessment
This 15 credit course is assessed on the basis of: (i) three individual practical assignments, the
sum of which contribute 70% to your final mark; (ii) a written essay, no more than 2850-3150
words in length, worth 30% of your final mark.
1.5
Teaching methods
Teaching will be by a mixture of lecture, seminar, demonstration and supervised practical
exercises. Lectures and seminars will last for 2 hours, or 1 hour when followed by a practical
class. Practical classes will last up to two hours.
N.B. Participation in practical exercises is limited by the availability of suitably equipped
computers, and is guaranteed only for those who are taking this course as an examined module
for a Masters degree.
1.6
Workload
There will be 10 hours of seminars/lectures for this course and 15 hours of supervised practicals.
You will be expected to undertake around 40 hours of reading for the course, plus 85 hours
producing the assessed work. This adds up to a total workload of 150 hours for the course.
1.7
Prerequisites
Students who wish to take this course must have already taken ARCLG090: GIS in Archaeology I. Exceptions are only made for those with significant past experience of GIS in the
workplace or who can demonstrate equivalent knowledge.
2
Aims, objectives and assessment
2.1
Aims
The course aims to provide:
• an extended consideration of some of the topics that students will have learned in the
pre-requisite module GIS in Archaeology I ;
• a theoretical grounding and practical experience in more advanced uses of geographical
informations systems for archaeological purposes;
• an advanced understanding of how to manipulate raster data
• a familiarity with a wide range of GIS and related software.
2.2
Objectives
The course objectives are that you will be able to:
• use a range of raster GIS software;
• understand and be able to perform a range of point and spatial operations;
• understand and be able to compute measures of landscape structure;
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ARCLG091
2015–2016
• understand and be able to perform hydrological analysis
• understand and be able to perform cost surface analysis;
• be able to write simple scripts to undertake iterative analysis;
• understand and be able to perform various forms of viewshed analysis;
• understand and be able to perform cost surface analysis;
• discuss and evaluate recent developments such as temporal GIS;
• implement simple webserving of GIS data.
2.3
Learning outcomes
More broadly, on successful completion of the course, students should:
• have become familiar with negotiating a range of software that varies significantly in terms
of interface and functionality;
• have an enhanced understanding that, as with many other computer applications, the
‘data’ stored and manipulated in a GIS, constitutes a model rather than a direct representation of reality;
• have an enhanced ability to apply aquired knowledge of a highly technical nature;
• have an enhanced ability to select the most appropriate technical tools to answer a given
substantive research question.
2.4
2.4.1
Coursework
Assessment tasks
This course is assessed entirely by coursework consisting of the two assignments described here.
1. An essay (30%) which should be no more than 2850–3150 words in length. Please answer
one of the questions which will be provided in week 2 of the course.
2. A practical ‘notebook’ (70%), consisting of three practical assignments (submitted separately) on the following topics:
• Cost-surface analysis;
• Viewshed analysis;
• Web GIS.
Additional information about these assignments will be provided in tandem with relevant
classwork. These assignments will require you to include illustrations, such as maps and
graphs. Please ensure that these are carefully presented. General guidance is available at:
https://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/display/archadmin/Illustrations. All illustrations should
have informative captions. Where appropriate, maps should include indicators of scale
and orientation, as well as a legend (key) based on sensible ranges of data values. Graphs
should include informative labels for the X- and Y-axes.
2015–2016
ARCLG091
7
If you are unclear about the nature of an assignment then you should discuss it with the
Course Co-ordinator.
You are not permitted to re-write and re-submit coursework in order to try to improve your
marks. However, the Course Co-ordinator is willing to discuss an outline of your approach to
an assignment, provided this is planned suitably in advance of the submission date.
2.5
Word count and submission procedure
Please be sure to observe the following specifications:
Practical 1
Practical 2
Practical 3
Essay
Word count
Submission deadline
See separate instructions
See separate instructions
See separate instructions
950–1050
3rd Mar. 2016
24th Mar. 2016
28th Apr. 2016
28th Apr. 2016
All work should be submitted to Turnitin (http://www.submit.ac.uk/en_gb/home). The
relevant ‘class ID’ is 2969921 and the ‘enrolment password’ is IoA1516.
UCL has strict regulations with regard to word-length, late submission and plagiarism. You should note that these regulations could result in you failing a course and thus
potentially failing the whole degree. Please see the MA/MSc Handbook for further information (https://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/download/attachments/43650495/ioa-mamsc%20general%
20handbook.pdf?version=2&modificationDate=1442243967000&api=v2), or ask!
3
3.1
Schedule and syllabus
Teaching schedule
The course will be taught in Term 2. Classes will be held on Thursdays, commencing at 13:00.
Lectures will last for one hour and will take place in room 322C.
Practicals will be held in room 322C. The exact timing of practicals will be determined in
week one according to the number and expertise of students taking the class, but are likely to
be scheduled between 14:00 and 16:00. There will be no taught class on 18th February (Reading
Week). Except in the case of illness, the 70% minimum attendance requirement applies to all
classes.
3.2
Detailed week-by-week syllabus
The following is a session outline for the course as a whole. There is a large practical component
which will require you both to work through examples in class and undertake assignments in
your own time. Relevant readings for each week will be provided in the weekly lecture notes
posted on the course website at: http://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3479.
Session 1: Point and spatial operations
Introduction to the course. Introduction to point and spatial operations: map-algebra, high-pass
filters, low-pass filters and edge-filters.
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ARCLG091
2015–2016
Practical Point and spatial operations in GRASS GIS.
Session 2: Landscape Structure
Introduction to landscape characterisation and multi-scale analytical methods.
Practical Terrain analysis in Landserf.
Session 3: Hydrological Analysis
The hydrological properties of landscapes. GIS-led hydrological algorithms. Archaeological
applications of hydrological analysis.
Practical Building a hydrological model with TauDEM (and, optionally, GRASS).
Session 4: Cost Surface Analysis
Modelling pedestrian, animal and other types of movement in a GIS environment. Isotropic
and anisotropic cost surfaces.
Practical Isotropic cost surface analysis in ArcGIS.
Session 5: Advanced Cost Surfaces and Least Cost Paths
This continues on from the previous weeks class, but addresses more advanced applications of
cost surfaces and distance operators, as well as considering the construction of least cost paths.
Practical Anisotropic least cost paths in GRASS.
Session 6: Introduction to scripting
An introduction to computer programming with the Python programming language.
Practical Introduction to scripting with Python.
Session 7: Viewshed Analysis
Modelling human visual perception in a GIS environment. The use and limitations of viewshed
(line-of-sight) analysis.
Practical Viewshed analysis from sites using ArcGIS and GRASS.
Session 8: Advanced Viewshed Analysis
The continues on from the previous week’s class, but addresses more advanced visibility analysis
including cumulative viewsheds.
Practical Scripting cumulative viewshed analysis in GRASS.
Session 9: Temporal GIS
The incorporation of time as a parameter in GIS and the challenges of dealing with the chronological uncertainty present in most archaeological datasets.
Practical A case study in visualizing temporal data using ArcGIS, GRASS and ParaView.
2015–2016
ARCLG091
9
Session 10: Internet GIS)
Technical, social and legal issues in web-serving GIS.
Practical Introduction to Mapserver, KML, and other technologies.
4
Online resources
The full UCL Institute of Archaeology coursework guidelines are given here: https://wiki.
ucl.ac.uk/display/archadmin/Students.
The full text of this handbook is available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/
studying/masters/courses/ARCLG091.
The Moodle pages for this course are available at https://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/
view.php?id=3479.
5
5.1
Additional information
Libraries and other resources
In addition to the Library of the Institute of Archaeology (5th floor), other libraries in UCL
with holdings of particular relevance to this course are the Science Library (D.M.S. Watson
building on the central UCL site) and the Environmental Studies Library in Wates House on
Gordon Street. You may also wish to consult the list of electronic journals available through
UCL (http://metalib-c.lib.ucl.ac.uk/). A full list of UCL libraries and their opening
hours is provided at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/.
The University of London Senate House Library (http://www.ull.ac.uk/) also has holdings which may be relevant to this course.
5.2
Attendance
A register will be taken at each class. If you are unable to attend a class, please notify the
lecturer by email. Departments are required to report each students attendance to UCL Registry
at frequent intervals throughout each term. You are expected to attend at least 70% of classes.
5.3
Information for intercollegiate and interdepartmental students
Students enrolled in Departments outside the Institute of Archaeology should collect hard copy
of the Institute’s coursework guidelines from the Academic Administrator’s office (Room 411A).
5.4
Dyslexia
If you have dyslexia or any other disability, please make your lecturers aware of this. Please
discuss with your lecturers whether there is any way in which they can help you. Students with
dyslexia are reminded to indicate this on each piece of coursework.
5.5
Feedback
In trying to make this course as effective as possible, we welcome feedback from students during
the course of the year. All students are asked to give their views on the course in an anonymous questionnaire which will be circulated at one of the last sessions of the course. These
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ARCLG091
2015–2016
questionnaires are taken seriously and help the Course Co-ordinator to develop the course. The
summarised responses are considered by the Institute’s Staff-Student Consultative Committee,
Teaching Committee, and by the Faculty Teaching Committee.
If you are concerned about any aspect of this course we hope you will feel able to talk to
the Course Co-ordinator, but if you feel this is not appropriate, you should consult your degree
coordinator/personal tutor, the Academic Administrator (Judy Medrington), or the Chair of
Teaching Committee (Dr. Karen Wright).
5.6
Health and safety
Students enrolled on this course are particularly reminded of the measures that should be
taken to reduce possible discomfort arising from the extended use of computer workstations.
UCL’s occupational health centre provides some information at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/
occ_health/health_advice/office_guide.php.
6
Tutor
The course tutor is:
Dr Mark Lake (ML), who is available for consultation in room 115 at the times posted on
his door, or by appointment.
Tel: 020 7679 1535
Ext: 21535
Email: mailto:mark.lake@ucl.ac.uk
7
Appendix: Institute of Archaelogy Coursework Procedures
General policies and procedures concerning courses and coursework, including submission procedures, assessment criteria, and general resources, are available in your Degree Handbook and
on the following website: http://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/display/archadmin. It is essential that
you read and comply with these. Note that some of the policies and procedures will be different
depending on your status (e.g. undergraduate, postgraduate taught, affiliate, graduate diploma,
intercollegiate, interdepartmental). If in doubt, please consult your course co-ordinator.
7.1
Granting of extensions
New UCL-wide regulations with regard to the granting of extensions for coursework have been
introduced with effect from the 2015–16 session. Full details will be circulated to all students
and will be made available on the IoA intranet. Note thatCourse Coordinators are no longer
permitted to grant extensions. All requests for extensions must be submitted on a new UCL
form, together with supporting documentation, via Judy Medrington’s office and will then be
referred on for consideration. Please be aware that the grounds that are now acceptable are
limited. Those with long-term difficulties should contact UCL Student Disability Services to
make special arrangements.