We received the data from the LiDAR survey last week, courtesy of the Environment Agency. But, of course, receiving the data is only the beginning. What to do with it now? Well, the possibilities are endless it seems.
We are very lucky at Peeling Back the Layers to have one or two volunteers and at least one of the professionals involved (Steve Malone of Trent and Peak Archaeology) with extensive experience of LiDAR and GIS (Geographical Information Systems), which we need to read and manipulate the data we have.
David Orchard is one such person. He has worked with LiDAR data and GIS for a number of national bodies such as Natural England and The National Trust, and he was kind enough to spend some time with me to help me get to grips with what we had. (I must admit, I have always been fascinated with GIS, and more than a little bit intimidated, ever since I tried to get to grips with ArcView when starting my doctorate with the hope of digitising maps from the entire region of Arkadia in the central Peloponnese, Greece. I tried to learn all about it alongside some computer scientists and was very soon left behind. I turned to phenomenology instead and that got me through. Ever since, I have felt like GIS is unfinished business…)
Anyway, David then went on to produce some fascinating layers using ArcGIS. Such as these below:
Digital Terrain Model with contours at 20cm intervals courtesy of David Orchard
Hybrid model with contours at 20cm intervals courtesy of David Orchard
We also have the expertise of Steve Malone from Trent and Peak Archaeology, and he had a go and came up with a shaded surface model like this:
Shaded surface model of the area of Whitle, including Pilsbury Castle, courtesy of Steve Malone of Trent and Peak Archaeology
We are very excited about what these images are revealing and will begin looking at them and creating further layer and images with the data in earnest tomorrow, when the survey begins!
Catherine
Commentaires