Historic environment and INSPIRE - A view from Scotland

Abstract

INSPIRE provides a roadmap for the publication of metadata, view and download services for a wide range of spatial information. Although an ideal tool for promoting data about the historic environment, in most instances the timetabled approach of public sector organisations focuses on publishing statutory data. RCAHMS has adopted the principles behind INSPIRE to publish information about the wider historic environment and the specialist datasets it curates. However, much archaeological information is created outside the public sector by academia and commercial archaeological companies. There is thus a need to encourage these primary data creators in contributing to archaeological Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). Online reporting, through OASIS, offers a potential solution through the systematic reporting of archaeological fieldwork, including specialist remote sensing techniques via online forms. The challenge remains to establish a common infrastructure, agreed terminologies and to encourage the archaeological community to value spatial data. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.