Current State of Svalbard 2004 GIS Mapping

So, here is a picture of the point cloud out of the total station at Old Longyear City.

This is what it looks like after the dots were connected using the field notes and sketches, also the GPS survey data of area zero, the ropeways, mine one and the roads is included.

The general idea about the role of the maps as they pertain to the report is to produce overall maps for both Old Longyear and Advent Cities, like this one for Advent City:

The next step will be to produce larger scale maps of portions of each site:

Finally, a series of close up maps, one for each feature with digitized aspects gleamed from the feature forms:

As you can see, there is room for photographs and text along the left hand side. I will continue to compile the material that everyone gathered while in Svalbard, and hope to have a cleaner version of all this for both Advent and Longyear Cities in the next couple of weeks. Also, I know that these maps are still very rough looking, please feel free to email me with any suggestions!

Finally, just as general informaiton, I have agreed to present a paper as part of a symposium at next year's Society for American Archaeology's annual meetings, its theme deals with computer simulation in archaeology. In the interest of open dialogue, I have included the abstract below if anyone is interested in sending me suggestions and the like.

 

Title: Old Longyear City in 3D: Virtual Reconstruction of a Polar Coal Mining Town

Longyearbyen is currently the largest settlement on the island of Spitsbergen, located 800 kilometers north of Norway. Michigan industrialist John Longyear began mining coal here in 1906. This paper focuses on the virtual reconstruction of the historic town site based on Total Station and GPS mapping conducted during August, 2004. Topics discussed will include the growing accessibility of GIS applications and 3D modeling to answer questions concerning structure identification based on historical documentation, spatial comparisons between sites, control of archaeological data (i.e. for report preparation, tourism, site protection, etc.) and the ability of individuals to inexpensively employ these techniques.
 

Okay, that's all from me for now, let me know what you think and I look forward to staying in contact!

Cheers,
-Ed