An Analysis of the Factors that Impact Accuracy During the Acquisition of Archaeological Geospatial Data Through the Use of GPS Units

Summary

In recent decades, archaeology has seen an increase in the use of geospatial technology. This paper weighs the factors that impact the accuracy of the acquisition of geospatial data in the field and seeks to establish a system to determine the ideal times for data collection through the use of GPS units. Control points were established both domestically, within the United States, and in northwestern Belize. Each point was input into a database in which we recorded a set of factors including; constellation density, PDOP and weather conditions. Satellite constellations were recorded off the Global Navigation Satellite System Planning Online website and compared to the satellites that were actually present at the time of collection. The data was then subject to differential correction and inlayed into ArcMap 10. We conducted a comparative study and found which variables were ideal for accurate data collection. Accuracy was determined by the amount of displacement between points at the given location.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage