Information Management SIG online lecture session

Description

The Information Management SIG invites you to join us for our series of short online talks from 12:30 until 13:30 on Tuesday 20 May 2025.

Each session will have a focus on a specific topic, and we welcome everyone regardless of their level of pre-existing knowledge.

This session is titled ‘CHRoMA: addressing interoperability of archaeological survey data through a colour vision friendly thematic map key’ by Peter McKeague.

Abstract

According to Colour Blind Awareness, there are approximately 3 million people with Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD) or Colour Blindness in the UK (about 4.5% of the population) of which approximately 1 in 12 are men (8%) and 1 in 200 women. Worldwide, there are estimated to be about 300 million people with some form of colour vision deficiency. 

In Britain archaeological monuments, as prominent landmarks in the landscape, have long featured on maps from early post medieval estate maps through to modern maps. Britain’s national mapping agency, 

For decades, The Ordnance Survey (OS), has published selected archaeological monuments on their map products, latterly on the recommendation of the relevant national heritage agency from their own archaeological field survey programmes. Depiction of antiquities or archaeological monuments follows strict cartographic conventions whose purpose is to show these features within the rich topographic detail of the wider map detail. 

The rapid pace of technical change in surveying technology and software systems from the late 1990s, coupled with a marked growth in developer-funded archaeology in Britain, has helped democratise data collection and display. Archaeological content is no longer constrained to or governed by the rules of published maps. Once largely the preserve of the Ordnance Survey and the respective national heritage agencies, detailed spatial data is now created by a far broader range of organisations and individuals and can be viewed in GIS software against a range of mapping and imagery backgrounds. Yet little effort has been made to combine and share data gathered through different survey methodologies, projects and organisations seamlessly through View and Download services let alone address the challenges of using a colour friendly palette. Too often data in charts and GIS is displayed using a range of rainbow colour scales which can be misleading particularly for anyone with colour vision deficiency.

Funded by The Historic Scotland Foundation, CHRoMA (Cultural Heritage Review on Map Accessibility) aims to address the presentation of surveyed archaeological data from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) created through a range of methodologies (field survey mapping, airborne mapping (cropmark transcriptions) and geophysical survey) through the formal definition of a thematic map legend informed by existing practice within HES. The project worked with a Colour Scientist to improve the accessibility of the survey data for Colour Vision Deficiency users. To ensure the legend was applied consistently across the separate datasets, over 2,700 terms in the Scottish Monument Thesaurus were formally matched to the values in the map legend. An additional field for the legend was then added to the each of the survey dataset to produce a harmonised view of observed archaeological features, irrespective of methodology. Data interoperability was further tested by applying the approach to the recently published Historic England Aerial Investigation Mapping Data.

Additional information

This session counts as 1 hour of CPD if it meets objectives on your personal development plan.

This meeting will take place on Teams; the link for the meeting will be sent in the confirmation email.

Event pricing

This event is free for all CIfA members to attend; this includes CIfA Group supporters.

There is a fee of £5 for all non-members of CIfA.

If you are a not a CIfA or Group member you can become a Group Supporter for an annual fee of £15 to attend this and any future digital bitesize CPD and networking event run by the Group for free.

More information about becoming a Group supporter can be found on the Groups webpage or you can submit your details and payment information to join any groups immediately via this form.