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Improving the usability of Commercial Archaeology data through semantic integration.

Peixe, Alexandre Roberto (2022) Improving the usability of Commercial Archaeology data through semantic integration.

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Abstract:A source of archaeological data not explored in its full potential is commercial archaeology, which is mandatory by law before construction or renovation works. In the Netherlands, the Council for Culture acknowledges that 90% of archaeological projects are done by private archaeology companies. This hints at a considerable amount of data being misplaced or completely ignored, as the nature of the commercial market does not provide enough time and resources to perform all analysis needed. The general objective of this work is to improve the usability of commercial archaeology spatial datasets that are available through public repositories. This research intends to address it by testing a method to enhance their explorability for future researchers. The study involves different knowledge areas and encompasses digital archaeology, the Dutch commercial archaeology norms, the FAIR data principles and the implementation of ontologies and knowledge graphs. The work uses a case study of an archaeologist studying palaeolithic sites by integrating commercial archaeology data to evaluate their presence within the Enschede municipality. To achieve this it was divided into six steps: (1) a source data assessment to evaluate the current datasets; (2) a processing data step to extract and integrate the finds recorded; (3) a data standardization step, as each company has its own set of standards; (4) a user assessment to evaluate how the data have been currently used; (5) the definition of a proof-of-concept geoportal functional requirements and as the last step (6) adapting an ontology for converting the integrated data into knowledge graphs. The integrated dataset contains 4.235 finds extracted from 32 different datasets. Semantic integration also makes the implementation and maintenance of the whole system easier as its classes can be interrelated without having to modify the basic data itself. The use of knowledge graphs allowed the data to be queried in more useful ways, even though the ontologies used can always be improved to enhance interoperability, but this asks for a team effort to ensure their effectiveness.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:ITC: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation
Subject:38 earth sciences
Programme:Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation MSc (75014)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92889
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