All major operating systems

General website development

Interface design

Collaborative publishing

Librarianship, Information & Museum Studies

Software/programming languages used:

Omeka

Discipline:

Platform:

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

Specifications:

Portable Document Format (PDF)

Dublin Core

ATOM

Powerpoint Document (.ppt)

JSON

RSS2

Data structuring and enhancement:

Cataloguing and indexing

Tags:

web content management

Alternate tool(s):

DSpace

Strategy and project management:

General project management

Licence:

GNU General Public License

lifecycleStage:

creation

GPS and total station surveys

publishing

By Valentina Asciutti at Fri, 07/10/2011 - 15:03

Read more about Omeka

tool: GDAL

Purpose:

Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) is a translator library for vector and raster geospatial data formats that is released under an X/MIT style Open Source license by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation.

Features:

• supports over 40 different raster formats
• available for other applications to use
• prebuilt utilities

A&H use case 1 description:

“A Vision of Britain through Time” project has used GDAL to ensure that every geo-tiff had a corresponding world file containing its geographical data which was used together with the ordinary tiff to re-create the geo-tiff once all image processing operations were complete.

Publisher:

Open Source Geospatial Foundation

Creator:

Frank Warmerdam

Data capture:

Geophysical survey

Manual input and transcription

Specifications:

JPEG

Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)

Suite:

Software/programming languages used:

GDAL

Data structuring and enhancement:

Tags:

Licence:

lifecycleStage:

Platform:

Manual input and transcription

By Valentina Asciutti at Thu, 17/06/2010 - 11:12

Read more about GDAL

tool: PostgreSQL

Purpose:

PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system.

Features:

• fully ACID compliant
• full support for foreign keys, joins, views, triggers, and stored procedures (in multiple languages)
• includes most SQL 2008 data types, including INTEGER, NUMERIC, BOOLEAN, CHAR, VARCHAR, DATE, INTERVAL, and TIMESTAMP
• supports storage of binary large objects, including pictures, sounds, or video
• multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC)
• Highly customisable

A&H use case 1 description:

The “Great Britain Historical Geographical Information System (GBHGIS)” has used PostgreSQL to store the geographically-located historical statistics for Great Britain.

Creator:

Michael Stonebraker

Publisher:

PostgreSQL Global Development Group

Data capture:

Specifications:

PHP

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

Suite:

Software/programming languages used:

PostgreSQL

Tags:

database

query language

Alternate tool(s):

FileMaker, MySQL, SQLite, Firebird

Licence:

PostgreSQL License

lifecycleStage:

Platform:

By Valentina Asciutti at Thu, 17/06/2010 - 10:44

Read more about PostgreSQL

tool: Plone

Purpose:

Plone is a powerful, flexible, open source Content Management System (CMS) built on top of Zope application server and CMF.

Features:

• Flexible and adaptable workflow
• Customisable
• Free add-ons
• Versioning, history and reverting content
• Support for multiple mark up formats
• Multilingual content management
• RSS feed support
• WebDAV and FTP support
• WYSIWYG

A&H use case 1 description:

The “Concordia” project has used Plone to run the Pleiades website.

Creator:

Alexander Limi, Alan Runyan, and Vidar Andersen

Publisher:

Plone Foundation

Data publishing and dissemination:

General website development

Specifications:

Suite:

Software/programming languages used:

Tags:

Alternate tool(s):

Automne, Drupal, Joomla

Licence:

GNU General Public License

lifecycleStage:

creation

publishing

Platform:

Use of existing digital data

By Valentina Asciutti at Mon, 19/04/2010 - 11:14

Read more about Plone

tool: ArcExplorer

Purpose:

ArcExplorer is a custom mapping tool that can be used in a web browser. ArcExplorer allows you to perform a range of basic GIS functions such as display, query and retrieve data.

Features:

• Display and query a variety of standard data sources including ESRI shapefiles, ArcInfo coverages Images, ArcIMS services
• Pan and zoom through multiple layers and identify, locate, and query geographic and attribute data.
• Symbolize data based on attributes contained in the data layers to create thematic maps.
• Perform basic spatial analysis tasks on the geographic data
• Freely distributable data

A&H use case 1 description:

ArcExplorer was used in the Montréal l'avenir du passé (MAP) project to create a historical GIS research infrastructure for mapping the city of Montréal.

Publisher:

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)

Creator:

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)

Software/programming languages used:

ArcExplorer

Data capture:

Specifications:

Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)

JPEG

Portable Network Graphics (PNG)

Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)

Bitmap (BMP)

Java

Communication and collaboration:

Graphical interaction (asynchronous)

Suite:

ESRI Explorer

Discipline:

Archaeology

Classics and Ancient History

History

Data analysis:

Spatial data analysis

Data publishing and dissemination:

Web browser scripting

Tags:

geography

Geospatial computing

Geospatial technology

Strategy and project management:

Documentation

Practice-led research:

2d illustration

3d modelling - interactive

Alternate tool(s):

ArcGIS Explorer, worldKit, GeoCommons

Data structuring and enhancement:

2d modelling - raster

2d modelling - vector

Licence:

Freeware

Platform:

lifecycleStage:

GPS and total station surveys

analysis

publishing

By natalie.hutchinson at Mon, 29/03/2010 - 10:41

Read more about ArcExplorer

tool: ERDAS Imagine

Purpose:

ERDAS Imagine is a suite of geospatial authoring software. The suite contains a raster graphics editor and remote sensing application that performs advanced remote sensing analysis and spatial modelling to create new information. ERDAS IMAGINE can also visualize results in 2D, 3D, movies, and on cartographic quality map compositions.

Features:

• Image Analysis, Remote Sensing & GIS
• Parallel Batch Processing
• Spatial Modeling
• High Performance Mosaicking Engine in IMAGINE Advantage
• Expanded Change Detection Tools (with Zonal Change Detection)
• ERDAS ER Mapper Algorithms
• Converts over 190 Image Formats to all Major File Formats, including GeoTIFF, NITF, CADRG, JPEG, JPEG2000, ECW and MrSID
• Implements Comprehensive OGC Web Processing Service (WPS), Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Catalog Services for the Web (CS-W)

A&H use case 1 description:

The North Sea Palaeolandscapes project used ERDAS Imagine to analyse 3D seismic datasets acquired on the United Kingdom continental shelf and explore Late Quaternary and Holocene geology over the area of the Southern North Sea.

Publisher:

Earth Resource Data Analysis System (ERDAS)

Creator:

Earth Resource Data Analysis System (ERDAS)

Software/programming languages used:

ERDAS Imagine

Data capture:

Remote sensing

Specifications:

Javascript

Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)

JPEG

Java

Ajax frameworks

J2EE

Erdas Macro Language (EML)

Communication and collaboration:

Video-based interaction (asynchronous)

Suite:

ERDAS Imagine

Discipline:

Archaeology

Classics and Ancient History

Data analysis:

Data publishing and dissemination:

Tags:

Remote sensing

Geospatial technology

Raster image

multispectral images

Strategy and project management:

Documentation

Human factors analysis

Practice-led research:

2d illustration

3d modelling - interactive

Alternate tool(s):

SPRING, Virtual Terrain Project (VTP),

Data structuring and enhancement:

2d modelling - raster

2d modelling - vector

Animation

Licence:

commercial

Platform:

GPS and total station surveys

lifecycleStage:

By natalie.hutchinson at Mon, 29/03/2010 - 10:22

Read more about ERDAS Imagine

tool: ArcGIS

Purpose:

ArcGIS is a suite of software that comprises of Desktop GIS, Server GIS, Mobile GIS, and Online GIS. ArcGIS is a platform for building a complete geographic information system (GIS) that lets you easily create, edit, and analyse geographic knowledge on the desktop; publish data, maps, globes and models to a GIS server and/or share them online; and use them on the desktop, on the Web, or in the field.

Features:

• View and query maps
• Manipulate shapefiles and geodatabases
• Data manipulation, editing and analysis
• Mobile device enabled

A&H use case 1 description:

ArcGIS was used in the Mapping Medieval Chester project to integrate geographical and literary mappings of the medieval city using cartographic and textual sources and using these to understand more how urban landscapes in the Middle Ages were interpreted and navigated by local inhabitants.

A&H use case 2 description:

ArcGIS was used in the Troodos Archaeological and Environmental Survey Project to investigate the relationship between people and their environment, from the Neolithic period to the present day on the island of Cyprus. ArcGIS was used to gather, analyse and map geomorphological data.

Publisher:

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)

Creator:

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)

Data capture:

Geophysical survey

Specifications:

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

Microsoft's .NET Framework

Java

COM

Visual Basic

TCP/IP

Unified Modelling Language (UML)

Visual C++

Delphi

Data publishing and dissemination:

Disk publishing

Collaborative publishing

Audio-visual interaction (synchronous)

Communication and collaboration:

Graphical interaction (synchronous)

Software/programming languages used:

Discipline:

Data analysis:

Spatial data analysis

Data structuring and enhancement:

Cataloguing and indexing

2d modelling - raster

2d modelling - vector

3d modelling - interactive

Graphical rendering

Alternate tool(s):

GRASS (Geographic Analysis Support System) GIS, ThinkGeo

Tags:

Geospatial computing

Geospatial technology

Strategy and project management:

Documentation

Practice-led research:

Platform:

General project management

lifecycleStage:

Licence:

Suite:

By natalie.hutchinson at Mon, 29/03/2010 - 10:08

Read more about ArcGIS

tool: MantisBT

Purpose:

MantisBT is a free popular web-based bugtracking system written in the PHP scripting language.

The most common use of MantisBT is to track software defects. However, MantisBT is often configured by users to serve as a more generic issue tracking system and project management tool.

Features:

• event-driven-plug-in system
• works with MySQL, MS SQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle and IBM DB2 databases
• RSS Feeds
• Customisable workflow
• Wiki integration
• Chat integration

A&H use case 1 description:

The “First World War Poetry Digital Archive” project has used MantisBT to track development and the use cases developed were used as reference points for successful development prior to user testing.

Creator:

Kenzaburo Ito and Victor Boctor

Publisher:

Futureware Pty Ltd

Strategy and project management:

Accessibility analysis

System quality assurance and code testing

Data analysis:

Topic Detection and Tracking

lifecycleStage:

Specifications:

Tags:

PHP

scripting language

MySQL

Alternate tool(s):

JIRA, Trac, Bugzilla

Platform:

GNU General Public License

Licence:

Software/programming languages used:

Mantis

MantisBT

By Valentina Asciutti at Fri, 26/03/2010 - 14:20

tool: Ruby on Rails

Purpose:

Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is a web development framework written in the Ruby language.
It is intended to be used with an Agile development methodology that is used by web developers for rapid development.

Ruby on Rails is separated into various packages, namely ActiveRecord (an object-relational mapping system for database access), ActiveResource (provides web services), ActionPack, ActiveSupport and ActionMailer.

Features:

• uses the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture pattern to organise application programming
• MySQL, SQLite, and Postgres support
• opinionated software
• RESTful architecture
• Convention over Configuration (CoC) principle
• Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle

A&H use case 1 description:

The “First World War Poetry Digital Archive” project has used Ruby on Rails to embed browse and search functionality to the website.

Creator:

David Heinemeier Hansson

Publisher:

Rails Core Team

Data publishing and dissemination:

Web browser scripting

General website development

Specifications:

Suite:

Software/programming languages used:

Ruby on rails

Tags:

programming

Alternate tool(s):

Merb, Ramaze, Vintage

Licence:

MIT

lifecycleStage:

Platform:

By Valentina Asciutti at Fri, 26/03/2010 - 14:12

Read more about Ruby on Rails

tool: Mercury Amira

Purpose:

Mercury Amira is a multifaceted tool that allows for integration, manipulation, and visualisation of large sets of data. Automatic and interactive segmentation tools support processing of 3D image data.

Features:

• One platform for visualizing, analyzing and presenting
• Very large data sets are easily accessible with specific readers
• C++ coding wizard for technical extension and customization

A&H use case 1 description:

Amira was used on the North Sea Palaeolandscapes project to visualise and analyse the vast amounts of data that were collected.

Publisher:

Visage Imaging GmbH

Creator:

Mercury Software Systems

Data publishing and dissemination: