Achievement

The field cyberarchaeology system used by our team depends on GIS data that is gathered using total stations, which require multiple people to operate. A RTK (Real Time Kinematic) GPS system provides high precision data, and requires only one individual to use it; but it tends to be prohibitively expensive and run proprietary software not designed for archaeology. We are developing a deployable open-source RTK GPS system utilizing available libraries which enable direct integration to our in-field data recording system while not sacrificing precision. We can achieve normal RTK precision (2cm), while enabling integration into our existing cyberarchaeology system without the need to post-process any of the data. The targeted design is such that someone not trained in surveying methods can record accurate, relevant data and is powerful enough for a trained surveyor to lay out new control points, benchmarks or conduct other surveys.