Lucy, As a concrete thinker with experience writing manuals, perhaps you could contribute to Arches' user manual! I encourage you to review the document when it comes out and suggest improvements using your own examples. I'm sure many Arches users would benefit from your experience.
Cheers, Dennis On Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at 12:40:18 AM UTC-7, Lucinda Fletcher-Jones wrote: > > Dear David, > > Thank you for your clarification of the terms, the different terms used in > the UI and in the resource graphs were a little confusing. I think that it > would be a good idea to make them consistent, but I also agree that users > are likely to change the labels to suit themselves. > > I understand the need to make Arches as flexible as possible and I can > understand that this makes creating a user manual difficult! In the past, I > have written user manuals myself and would suggest using a variety of > concrete examples to help more concrete thinkers. > > Thank you for your help, > Lucy > > > > On Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 2:18:20 AM UTC+2, David Myers wrote: >> >> Dear Lucy >> >> >> >> I'm writing to add to what Adam Cox has said regarding a few of your >> questions: >> >> >> >> To better understand the default resource types in HIP v1.0, I would >> recommend looking in the section of the HIP documentation entitled >> "Arches-HIP Data Resources" at: >> >> >> http://arches-hip.readthedocs.org/en/latest/hip-resources/#arches-hip-data-resources >> >> >> >> >> This section of the documentation describes the graphs for the 6 default >> resource types contained in the HIP. There is actually a bit of >> inconsistency between the graph names and user interface (UI) labels for >> the two resource types that you have asked about, which could cause some >> confusion. The following is how they graph names and UI labels correspond >> to each other: >> >> >> >> Heritage Resource (Graph) = Historic Resource (UI) >> >> >> >> Heritage Resource Group (Graph) = Historic District (UI) >> >> >> >> If this is a source of confusion, we may need to look at making those be >> in sync. >> >> >> >> Regarding the first of these, Heritage Resource (Graph), we decided in >> the HIP to have one generic or "agnostic" type (rather than separate graphs >> for archaeological sites, landscapes, architectural heritage and maritime >> heritage as was the case in Arches v1) for several reasons: (1) the >> classification of heritage resources varies so much around the world that >> we felt that we could not accurately represent the possibilities through >> the 4 types included in Arches v1; (2) persons of different specializations >> may classify a single heritage resource in multiple ways (e.g., an >> architect may classify it as "architectural heritage" and an archaeologist >> may classify the same place as "archaeological heritage"), which could lead >> to problems with multiple records for a single Heritage Resource under the >> approach used in v1. We therefore decided to have one default Heritage >> Resource type that would be designed to be as flexible as possible. The new >> Reference Data Manager module in Arches v3 also now allows for a more >> sophisticated ability to classify or describe Heritage Resources in a >> multiplicity of nuanced ways, which we felt made this a viable approach. In >> addition, having fewer resource graphs reduces the complexity and need for >> maintenance of the software, which is an additional advantage. >> >> >> >> Regarding the second of these, Heritage Resource Group (Graph), I think >> that this term better describes our intent behind this resource type than >> the term "Historic District." The Heritage Resource Group resource type is >> meant to represent any grouping of multiple Heritage Resources regardless >> of their spatial proximity. This could include what would be considered to >> be an urban district as well as an ensemble of landscape features that >> comprise a designed landscape, a funerary complex such as at Giza or Saqara >> in Egypt, or it could represent spatially dispersed groupings such as >> extant segments of an ancient road network or a serial grouping of sites >> such as convict sites across Australia (e.g., Australian Convict Sites >> World Heritage Listing). These are only a few examples. Our intent with >> this graph is to make it as flexible as possible to represent any variety >> of Heritage Resource groupings. Also as Adam has said, the idea is that you >> can make relationships from a Heritage Resource Group to other Heritage >> Resources within your instance of Arches. For example, you could create a >> Heritage Resource Group for the Giza funerary complex and within its record >> make relationships to the records of individual Heritage Resources that it >> is comprised of, such as the Great Sphinx and individual pyramids. >> >> >> >> We also expect that Arches implementers will change the default labels in >> the UI of the resource types to suit their own needs, as has already >> happened in a few Arches implementations. For example, you could choose to >> rename the "Historic Resource" UI label to "Archaeological Resource" if >> that is what works best for your project. >> >> >> >> Regarding representing the multiple uses of a single Heritage Resource >> through multiple time periods, this can be represented through the >> Classifications tab of the Resource Manager. I also think that you will >> find that the "Classification and Dating" section of the Arches v1 User >> Guide (available here) >> >> https://leanpub.com/ArchesUserGuide >> >> >> >> to still relevant to approaching this task when utilizing the >> Classifications tab of the HIP. >> >> >> >> I should also mention that we have been working on a new and updated user >> guide for the HIP. It's has been a bit tricky figuring out the best way to >> produce this in a generic way. We will be make an announcement on the forum >> when it is ready. >> >> >> >> I hope this explanation is useful. And it's great to know that your >> installation in Cairo is off the ground! >> >> >> >> Best wishes, >> >> David Myers >> >> Arches Project Team >> >> >> >> >> >> *From:* arches...@googlegroups.com [mailto:arches...@googlegroups.com] *On >> Behalf Of *Adam Cox >> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 07, 2015 9:16 AM >> *To:* Arches Project <arches...@googlegroups.com> >> *Subject:* [Arches] Re: Inputting Point Coordinates in Arches 3 and some >> other basic questions >> >> >> >> Hi Lucy, I can help with some of these questions, though input from how >> other users have handled these questions will be super helpful too. >> >> >> >> 1. The default Arches-HIP package is what you're looking at when you do >> your initial installation. It's within this package, not within Arches >> itself, that all of these taxonomic decisions are made, which are all based >> on the resource graphs. You can find those graphs here: >> http://archesproject.org/graphs/. So: yes, within Arches-HIP, >> archaeological resources and historic resources are all defined within the >> Historic Resource type. You may also want to learn more about how to >> manage the controlled vocabularies, and you can find documentation on that >> here: https://arches-hip.readthedocs.org/en/latest/loading-data/ >> >> >> >> 2. It sounds like the best thing for you to do would be to convert your >> excel sheet to a .arches/.relations file, which is a file format that >> Arches uses for batch data input. Then, you could upload all of the >> coordinates at once as new, individual resources, and begin adding >> information to them with the forms. >> >> It seems like converting MS Excel files to .arches/.relations files will >> be something that a lot of folks are interested in. I'd be happy to work >> on making an easy way to do this... perhaps it could be added to Arches >> itself eventually. If you'd be interested in sending me your file or a >> portion of it, I'd be happy to check it out. >> >> As for the location input form, the adding the lat/long cursor position >> is a good idea, and input lat/long boxes would also be useful in the >> future, it's something that others have mentioned as well. >> >> >> >> 3. Basically, your idea of making relationships would be the most obvious >> way of accomplishing this. You could also add the zones as Administrative >> Areas as described here >> <https://arches-hip.readthedocs.org/en/latest/loading-data/#optional-gis-layers-for-administrative-areas>. >> >> I'm hoping to automate some location-based relationships in my next >> project, but would also be very interested to hear how others have handled >> the district/resource relationships. >> >> >> >> 4. You can add as many resource types or classifications as you like. >> Hopefully that will address your concern... >> >> >> >> Finally, I'm glad you all have gotten Arches up and running! >> >> >> >> Adam >> >> On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 4:15:51 AM UTC-5, Lucy FJ wrote: >> >> Hi everyone, >> >> >> >> I have spent a couple of days exploring our brand new Arches 3 >> installation which we will be using for an inventory of Egyptian >> archaeological sites and I have some very basic questions to ask, and would >> be very grateful for any advice: >> >> >> >> 1. Resource manager: this allows me to input a 'historic resource', >> 'historic district', etc. I was expecting to see the more generic term >> 'Cultural Resource' and preferably be able to select 'Archaeological >> Resource'. Are these the default input forms or are there others? Are the >> input forms for 'historic resource' the same as for 'archaeological >> resource' in Arches 3? >> >> >> >> 2. Inputting point coordinates: We will be inputting our data from >> scratch (our data is presently in MS Excel) and we have point coordinates >> for each archaeological site and I was rather hoping that we would be able >> to input the point coordinates into the location section of the input form >> but it seems that we can either find the point on the map, which is very >> time consuming and inaccurate (in fact I do not see any coordinates at the >> bottom of the map to aid in locating the position, as previous versions of >> Arches had, so we would not know where to place the point) or load a gmx, >> kml or geojson file. I have looked into gmx files and found some open >> source software that will create such a file. Do we need to create a >> separate file for each resource? As we only have latitude and longitude, no >> elevation, which format is the most suitable for our use? How have other >> users dealt with this problem? >> >> >> >> 3. Historic District: Perhaps the archaeological resource input forms are >> different but we would like to use the group feature to input a very >> extensive site such as the Pyramids of Giza. For instance to input Giza as >> an 'archaeological zone' and relate each separate pyramid, temple and other >> structure to it to show it clearly as a group. When I look at 'Historic >> District' I don't see an obvious way of grouping these resources. Do we >> simply use the 'related resources' section to relate each separate site to >> the 'zone'? How have other users handled this? >> >> >> >> 4. Historic resource Type and Classification type: again perhaps this is >> a function of having the wrong input forms but we anticipated inputting an >> archaeological resource type (eg. temple, fortification, cemetery etc) >> associated with each cultural period (in our case, 'Old Kingdom', 'Roman' >> etc) so I do not know why there there seems to be an overall historic type >> and a classification type. As most of our sites are multi use over several >> centuries, we cannot describe them with one resource type. How have others >> dealt with this? >> >> >> >> I'm sorry to ask such basic questions but any help would be gratefully >> received! >> >> >> >> Lucy >> >> -- >> -- To post, send email to arches...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe, >> send email to archesprojec...@googlegroups.com. For more information, >> visit https://groups.google.com/d/forum/archesproject?hl=en >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Arches Project" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to archesprojec...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > -- -- To post, send email to archesproject@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe, send email to archesproject+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. 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