The RCAHMS Review of 2003 reported the impending launch of the ‘Heritage Portal’, a ‘GIS interface’ designed to make available RCAHMS and Historic Scotland datasets. A decade on, the resulting product PastMap is one of many collaborative ventures that make Scottish heritage data available online. Others include direct access to the National Record by heritage professionals from across Scotland, enabling instant sharing and updating of relevant data and provision of information as Web Services. This paper shares the experience of digital partnerships from our perspective as early adopters, focusing particularly on the challenges of moving towards open data. Susan Hamilton and Peter McKeague Computing Applications in Archaeology 2013 (25-28 March) University of Western Australia

1. Reality Bites
Susan Hamilton and Peter McKeague
susan.hamilton@rcahms.gov.uk Peter.mckeague@rcahms.gov.uk

2. • Identifies, surveys and interprets the built environment of Scotland
• Preserve, care for and add to the information and the items in the National
Collection relating to the archaeological, architectural and historical environment
•Promote public understanding and enjoyment of the information and the items in
the collection
The role of RCAHMS

3. Data and Recording at RCAHMS

4. Context: Canmore and Canmore Mapping
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/
http://canmoremapping.rcahms.gov.uk/
(C) Crown Copyright and database right 2013. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100020548

5. Context: PASTMAP and other sites
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datasets
(C) Crown Copyright and database right 2013. All rights reserved.
Ordnance Survey Licence number 100020548

6. Context: Online applications
Availability of WMS – links

7. Context: Making Data open
Acknowledgement : work undertaken by Min Zhang whilst
an intern at OS under supervision of John Goodwin and Glen Hart.

8. Definitions and Scope
Open: Open Knowledge Foundation
“A piece of content or data is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it
— subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or share-alike.”
Data & Content: Source
When we talk of “data” we need to be a bit careful because the word isn’t particularly
precise: “data” can mean a few or even a single items (for example a single
bibliographic record, a lat/long etc) or “data” can mean a large collection (e.g. all the
material in the database). To avoid confusion we shall reserve the term “contents” to
mean the individual items, and data to denote the collection.
Open Data: Beale (2012)
“...the notion of making data freely available online with minimal restrictions on reuse
and redistribution. Data in this instance can be all the data resulting from research,
rather than solely the research results.”
Open Archaeology: Beck & Neylon (2012)
“Open Archaeology shares much of the philosophy of these open approaches and is
predicated on promoting open redistribution and access to the data, processes and
snytheses generated within the archaeological domain. This is aimed at both the
production and consumption of archaeological knowledge with the associated aim of
maximising transparency, reuse and engagement while maintaining professional
probity.”
Cole (2012)
“Some of the literature of open data seems to imply that data is either open or closed”

9. Context: Where we are coming from

10. Context: Where we are coming from

11. Exploring the issues

12. Case Study One: Ordnance Survey IPR
OS 1:10,000 paper map OS Open Data
OS MasterMap
(Licenced)
(C) Crown Copyright and database right 2013.
All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100020548
(C) Crown Copyright and database right 2013. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100020548

13. Case Study Two: MAGI
Metal detecting finds add significantly to our knowledge of the past. Subsequent excavation
revealed that these uninspiring cropmarks were traces of an important settlement.

14. Case Study Two: MAGI

15. Case Study Three: Content and social media
The Case of Lost Edinburgh...

16. Case Study Four: SURE

17. Can we truly have open data ?

18. Peter McKeague and Susan Hamilton
Peter.mckeague@rcahms.gov.uk susan.hamilton@rcahms.gov.uk