The archeoViz application has been developed for multiple uses and audiences, including the needs of scientists on the one hand, and of the general public on the other hand.
Fostering Data Reuse
For more than a century, archaeologists have generated coordinated data during fieldwork. However, the results of these efforts are generally kept in inaccessible notebooks and hard drives, or –in the best cases– analysed and summarised as figures in publications, without providing the original data. Recent literature stressed that the lack of
- accessible and handy tools,
- training in data management,
- time to prepare data for publication, and
- recognition related to data publishing
are factors explaining the insufficient availability of field archaeological data (Selhofer & Geser 2015; Bernard 2019). Given the reluctance of archaeologists to publish data, archeoViz indirectly fosters data publication by demonstrating reuse, from the case of spatial archaeological data at the site level.
There is growing interest in open science and data publishing. However, publishing a data set is only half of the way if a convenient way to explore it is not offered. archeoViz is one of the possible solutions:
- minimal and multilingual interface (viz. issue 1)
- simple data structure (viz. issues 2, 3)
make it handy to use and fast to deploy on the web
- contributing to promote datasets as citable scientific outputs and,
- consequently, to promote data creators as well (viz. issue 4).
Openness index
archeoViz instances and datasets referenced on the archeoViz Portal are described with an “openness index” based on 5 parameters inspired by the FAIR and 5-star principles:
- Instance: the dataset can be explored through a specific archeoViz instance.
- Reprocessing script: the code to prepare the dataset is published, providing transparency about the selection and recoding made on the original dataset.
- Published dataset: the dataset is published on a public repository.
- Open license: the dataset is under an open license.
- Internal linking: visible records in the archeoViz instance are linked to their corresponding record in the public repository.
Public Outreach
It is rare for the general public to be allowed to observe the details of archaeological work. During an excavation, local residents are usually kept at a distance behind barriers.
In this situation, archeoViz makes it quick and easy to create a digital model of the excavation, which can be used as an educational resource and disseminated in the press. The importance of location and spatial information in archaeology is often underestimated by the general public: archeoViz focuses precisely on this dimension.
For Scientists
As a Support for an Ongoing Excavation
Because archeoViz is a lightweight solution, it can easily be used on the field during excavation, even with a low-power computer and in absence of internet connection.
archeoViz simple data structure makes daily updates simple, enabling archaeologists to visualise the results of the day’s excavation.
Several ongoing projects use archeoViz, for example:
- Excavation at the Tute du Pèlerin cave (French Pyrenees)
- Excavation at the L’Anse à Henry site (Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon)
- Excavation at the La Grande Rivoire rock shelter.
As a Publication Supplemental
Interactive visualizations are increasingly used as supplements to publications. Authors rely on generic scripts or packages including for example the Qgis2threejs plugin for QGIS (e.g. Discamps & Dancette 2022; Couillet et al. 2022) and the R rgl package (e.g. Li et al. 2021).
archeoViz can be used for the same purpose, and has the advantage of being specifically tailored to archaeological data. Online archeoViz instances can be deployed as supplements to reports and scientific papers to illustrate or demonstrate some particular aspects of the data discussed.
Major scientific journals such as Nature, Scientific Reports, PloS One, Journal of Archaeological Science push authors to publish papers’ supporting datasets. As this requirement is becoming increasingly frequent, archeoViz is an ad hoc resource to visualise interactively published datasets and supporting data.
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Sébastien Plutniak (1 août 2023). Audiences and Uses of the archeoViz web application for Spatial Archaeological Data. archeoViz. Data visualization in archaeology. Consulté le 20 juin 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/bd7s