America's
Priceless
Heritage

Cultural Heritage
Data User's Group
Data User's Group
Forum
Important Notice

More specifically the "Data USE ISSUES Forum" is a place to raise, share, and resolve issues and share technology about using spatial data for Archaeological analysis and management.

Members of the Data User's Group and our SHPO partners as well as the entire Cultural Spatial Data user community or other interested parties may participate in the DUG Forum (Instructions on use).

Click the telephone to join the forum.

Note: The link below is a searchable pdf.
QUANTIFYING THE PRESENT AND PREDICTING THE PAST: THEORY, METHOD, AND APPLICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PREDICTIVE MODELING, Judge, W. J., and Lynne Sebastian, editors. 1988.    U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.    Service Center. Denver, Co. xviii, 750 pp. For Hardcopy

Dug, the past tense of dig as well as the acronym for the BLM Cultural heritage Data Users Group, may be thought to represent, in either sense, archeology's analysis phase dependent upon our recorded observations. Automated information allows input/output and sophisticated manipulation including spatial analysis to resolve cultural research and land management issues.

These pages support end users with guidance regarding the use of cultural data. Upcoming meetings will be announced here, the "Data User's Group Meeting Notes" Select Meeting DUG Conference Call 3Nov'05 DUG Meet Oct'02 NTC PHX AZ DUG Meet Oct'01 NTC PHX AZ will be posted, as well as success stories using GIS for Cultural Heritage Data for Land Management situations, and other issues as they arise.

Data Access:

Cultural Heritage Data: Automated data regarding Cultural Heritage resource values are available to persons qualified under terms of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act Section 4 and the accompanying regulations 43 Code of Federal Regulations 7.8. Access to databases is obtained by application to various State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) data stewards. Select State Colorado New Mexico Nevada Utah
2005 Data Sharing Progress Report: The report may be accessed by clicking on the link above. In 1998, the Bureau of Land Management began a program of information development in partnership with the State Historic Preservation Offices(SHPOs) in 13 western states (Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington). The Cultural Resources Data Sharing Project has become an important part of the overall relationship between BLM and the SHPOs in the state’s where BLM has significant presence and activities. This report summarizes the activities performed by BLM and its SHPO partners since 1998. The report is also a prospectus on where future effort must be made to meet foreseeable and current needs for information, planning, and streamlining of work flow.
PLSS Data: Do you need authoritative spatial information (maps) regarding the locations and BLM authorizations such as oil and gas, coal, and geothermal leases, as well as mining claims, abandoned mines, campgrounds, and recreation sites? If so, learn about GeoCommunicator. Further, you may "download the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) data for any of the western states. Additional features for users with GIS software includes the ability to stream PLSS data and federal surface management agency boundaries live from GeoCommunicator directly to their desktop and combine it with their local datasets. There is no need to store the data locally and the data is always current."

Events:

News Items:

"See the information below for a link to some really cool, on-line fire GIS training. The primary focus of this training is not GIS for incident support. Rather, the exercises provide examples of the application of GIS to a full range of Fire Management activities. Through each exercise, participants gain knowledge and exposure to a wide variety of GIS skills, applications and tools. I believe that this resource would be of value to anyone who wants to learn more about using GIS for fire management." See Integrating Cultural Heritage in the National Fire Program for further information.

Brian Sorbel@NPS.gov

ArcPad extension for Fire is now available. What is ArcPad? See also other Fire Data Dictionary material.

Confused about how to learn about GIS and what to study first? ESRI Inc's Virtual Campus now offers a Learning Guide.

GIS is increasing in its utility and visibility. A recent GovExec article states " Geographic information systems (GIS), long considered technical and mundane--the purview of cartographers shut away in back rooms--have become a vitally important ingredient in keeping America secure. Geographic data has significant potential for use in a variety of homeland security missions, including intelligence analysis, emergency response, disaster recovery and border control. Current and comprehensive GIS information allows rescue workers and government officials to obtain information about any potential disaster--from suspected terrorist hideouts to disease patterns, evacuation routes and hurricane paths."

The Federal Preservation Institute meeting of the Federal Training Work Group met Tuesday, August 13, 2002. A presentation was made regarding "Sharing Databases with SHPOs".

A sample of the type of help material possible on these pages is posted here responding to a request for a "Pull down quad menu" function that was raised by end-users. Other functionality or information will be added as needs arise.

Relevant Issues:

• GPS Standards for the Cultural Programs have been published. See also, the US Forest Service GPS web site for information regarding Resource Grade GPS data collection.
• A merry month of May 2003 update is in GPS to GIS news. A second generation GeoCE devices from Trimble is announced. View the announcement and compare to the original specification sheet and join the Forum topic for more detail.
• The document "STANDARDS FOR TRANSMITTAL OF GIS DATA TO SHPO DATA SYSTEMS" is available for your review here. Please join discussions of the material on the Forum.
• An important topic of discussion concerns how spatial data "should be gathered, received, and distributed for and by BLM and its SHPO partners". Eric Ingbar has prepared a document "A Baseline Model" to stimulate discussion. Please read this paper and comment in the DUG Forum.

Useful links:

Show Case SHPO Data

ESRI Inc. on-line training

ESRI Online Support Center

ESRI Geography Network

BLM's LIS information

BLM's LIS site (GCDB)

BLM's GeoCommunicator

BLM's National Training Center Courses

Use this page's "Key Word Search" on GPS and/or GIS

BLM Oregon GIS Site

Map Tools

National Park Service "GPS for GIS Workflow"