PyArchInit: gli sviluppi dopo ArcheoFoss 2009

Luca Mandolesi, Enzo Cocca

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2013, Supplemento 4, 128-138

Abstract

The Project pyArchInit-Python for archaeology began in 2005 with the aim of developing a python plug-in for the open source software Quantum GIS. pyArchInit comes mainly from the needs, increasingly present in the archaeology community, to computerize the archaeological records using software which handle alphanumeric, multimedia and topographical data in a single solution. This package aims to meet these requirements with a unique solution that over time guarantees stability, development, easy installation and updating. The final goal is the creation of a GIS platform with a high interoperability between different operating systems, in which alphanumerical tables, GIS geometries and multimedia data are within a single system. This allows us to maintain the integrity of the raw data as much as possible, providing the archaeologist with an approach which is both very fast and powerful and, in the meantime, offering a system open to changes and customizations by other developers. The database management system of archaeological data is automatically installed both in PostgreSQL and in Spatialite. Different user interfaces, created to support the entering of data, manage the database. It is structured in seven management user interfaces: Stratigraphic Units, Site, Chronology, Infrastructures, Taphonomy Record, Archaeological, Multimedia. The first part of the package includes the management of stratigraphic units (pyarchnit_US module) because of the need to manage on site the documentation of excavations in progress. With pyArchInit we will try to bridge the gap between skills and knowledge acquired on an academic level and daily life in archaeological fieldwork; moreover, it will help the interaction with engineers, urban planners, government, Cultural Office administrators and all the agencies that gravitate around the archaeological world.

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