Final Report, CSA Propylaea Project: Guide to Survey Database

The FileMaker (version 9) database that was created to record the survey data was called NWwingSRVdta and carried the extension "fp7." There were five tables, each of which has been exported to a .CSV file and is available via this website: FieldNotes (2016 records), EwallREVcoords (768 records), SwallREVcoords (973 records), CADnotes (44 records), and KapTables (1629 records). (The tables are available as stand-alone .CSV files for download: FieldNotes.csv, EwallREVcoords.csv, SwallREVcoords.csv, CADnotes.csv, and KapTables.csv. The individual tables have been combined into a single zip file called NWwingSRVdta.zip. The individual files were all generated with the UTF-8 character set.)

The material in the database includes the original survey data (coordinates) supplied by Mr. Kapokakis; the same survey data translated into the coordinate systems for the east and south walls, as appropriate; the final coordinates to be used, after adjustment for offsets; the notes made during the survey work; references to the notebook pages used during the survey process; and notes concerning the modeling of problematic blocks.

The database was organized and created by Mr. Eiteljorg. Ms. Jones assisted in the process of data entry, sometimes reading data or assisting in reading data and sometimes checking. No other persons were involved in creating the data set.

The intention from the outset was to create a single data source for the work on the NW wing wall blocks. FileMaker 6.0 was the beginning program, and the data have been migrated through the succeeding versions; thus, the files were in fp5 format originally and were migrated to the fp7 format. The database accomplished its aims well; indeed, it has proven to be more useful than originally envisioned, providing not only automated processes for CAD data entry via export procedures but also permitting a single source to be the definitive resource for the model.

The fields and relationships are as follows:

• In table FieldNotes:
  • SequenceNo — Number — note-taking sequence number, not survey-crew number
  • TotalStationNo — Number — survey-crew number - used as a primary key but not defined as unique as it should have been
  • BlockNo — Number — CSA-assigned number for each block (which may be seen in the model by turning on the correct layers; see the documentation of the CAD models for more information)
  • BlockPart — Text — text description (block itself or, e.g., "peritenia bevel top")
  • Code1 — Text — corner designation (e.g., UR for upper right)
  • Code2 — Text — only for actual block corners: indicator of coordinate supplied, as hwd for height, width, depth (y,x,z); w for width only, d for depth only, etc.
  • Code2Rev — Text — as code 1, but all places marked so that, e.g., width only would be indicated as XwX, height only as hXX
  • Code3 — Text — as Code1 but for points that were not block corners
  • Obsrv dim in mm — Number — the offset measured at survey time
  • NotesComments — Text — comments in notebook
  • FromTStoPTinMMx — Number — from notebook, offset in x axis of wall-based coordinate system, plus or minus, in mm.
  • FromTStoPTinMMy — Number — from notebook, offset in y axis of wall-based coordinate system, plus or minus, in mm. - though included as a possibility, there was no occasion when an offset in this axis was used
  • FromTStoPTinMMz — Number — from notebook, offset in z axis of wall-based coordinate system, plus or minus, in mm.
  • MyComments — Text — comments made during the creation of the CAD model
  • ExtKey — Calculation as text in table for download (the following fields concatenated together: Wall, BlockNo, Code1, BlockPart) — despite the name, this was not used as a key
  • Wall — Text — almost exclusively E or S to indicate east wall or south wall but a few points on the west and north walls were surveyed for orientation
  • Any of the coordinates for a given point might be adjusted according to a measured offset taken during the survey process, as described in the document about surveying (called Surveymethods.html). As a result, each coordinate, after being re-configured into a coordinate based upon the user coordinate system for the appropriate wall and stored in the appropriate table (below), could be adjusted by adding or subtracting, where required, the measured offset to yield the coordinate for final use in the CAD model, as follows.
    
    • XadjustedFORfinalCAD — Calculation as number in table for download (for the east wall, E_UCS_X_value from EwallREVcoords table + the value of the field FromTStoPTinMMx divided by 1000 - for the south wall S_UCS_X_value from SwallREVcoords table + the value of the field FromTStoPTinMMx divided by 1000)
    • YadjustedFORfinalCAD — Calculation as number in table for download (for the east wall, E_UCS_Y_value from EwallREVcoords table + the value of the field FromTStoPTinMMy divided by 1000 - for the south wall S_UCS_Y_value from SwallREVcoords table + the value of the field FromTStoPTinMMy divided by 1000)
    • ZadjustedFORfinalCAD — Calculation as number in table for download (for the east wall, E_UCS_Z_value from EwallREVcoords table + the value of the field FromTStoPTinMMz divided by 1000 - for the south wall S_UCS_Z_value from SwallREVcoords table + the value of the field FromTStoPTinMMz divided by 1000)
  • WallBlock — Calculation as text in table for download (Wall designation — S or E — plus the number of the block, padded with leading zeroes so that all numbers are three-digit numbers) - used as a primary key but not required to be unique, as it should have been
  • Block_Corner_Part — Calculation as text in table for download (the following fields concatenated together: WallBlock, Code1, BlockPart, Code2)
  • S_Wall_Surface — Number — this number is the surface (not the block) surveyed on the south wall. The south wall blocks often have multiple surfaces that comprise the blocks because of protrusions and recesses, and the drawings of the wall (used to guide the survey work) made it far more reasonable to refer to surface numbers than block numbers. A single sequence of numbers was used for the surfaces, and the number applied to a block is the lowest number applied to the surfaces that comprise the block. [Note: On the CAD model, the layer named L____SW shows the numbers of both blocks and surfaces. The block numbers are in a larger type font (.3 m, drawing scale, for the blocks and .2 m. for the surfaces). There are never more than two surfaces per block, and, in each case, the lower number is the block number. Thus, for instance, block 60 includes surface 61. Note also that there are unused numbers arising from blocks not surveyed and/or errors in the numbering process.] This problem did not occur on the east wall; block and surface numbers are the same.
• In table EwallREVcoords are the coordinates of east-wall survey points, in the user coordinate system designed for the east wall. These values were exported from the model file via an AutoCAD list command after they had been entered from the original survey data and then a new user coordinate system (EWALL) enabled; the data were not entered by hand.
  • E_UCS_X_value — Number — East wall coordinate system value for x
  • E_UCS_X_value — Number — East wall coordinate system value for y
  • E_UCS_X_value — Number — East wall coordinate system value for z
  • TotStaNO — Number — a foreign key here
• In table SwallREVcoords are the coordinates of south-wall survey points, in the user coordinate system designed for the south wall. These values were exported from the model file via an AutoCAD list command after they had been entered from the original survey data and then a new user coordinate system (SWALL) enabled; the data were not entered by hand.
  • S_UCS_X_value — Number — South wall coordinate system value for x
  • S_UCS_X_value — Number — South wall coordinate system value for y
  • S_UCS_X_value — Number — South wall coordinate system value for z
  • TotStaNO — Number — a foreign key here
• In table CADnotes are notes made in the process of creating the CAD model. This table should be consulted to check for any blocks that have been problematic in any way. There are many such blocks, and this is the table where the problems — and chosen solutions — are recorded. Note that there are not such descriptions/explanations for blocks not modeled. That is, if no attempt was made to model a block, there is no information in this table to explain why. The rather slow evolution of layer names means that the layer and WallBlock fields changed as work on the model progressed.
  • layer — Text — CAD layer name in model
  • note — Text — comment by model-maker
  • date — Date — date of comment or last alteration
  • person — Text — model-maker
  • WallBlock — Calculation from layer name to indicate block number and thereby supply a link to the main table ( = Middle (layer;3;1) & Right (layer;3) — a foreign key here
• In table KapTables are the original survey coordinates. These values were imported into the table from Mr. Kapokakis's supplied data file; the data were not entered by hand.
  • TotalStationNumber — Number — survey-crew number, a foreign key here
  • X — Number — surveyed X value
  • Y — Number — surveyed Y value
  • Z — Number — surveyed Z value

Table-to-table relationships:
Total station number, the number recorded by the survey crew for each set of coordinates, is the key column/field used to relate tables to one another with a single exception. The Wallblock column/field relates FieldNotes to CADnotes.

The relationships are all one-to-one relationships with this exception: More than one point on a wall might be located by the same survey point. When two blocks meet tightly, for instance, the UR corner of one may match the UL of its neighbor. Therefore, the FieldNotes table is related to all the survey-data tables in many-to-one relationships.

Please note that information in these tables is necessarily positivist. That is, there is an implicit assumption that the information is somehow demonstrably correct. The truth, alas, is usually gray, however; so users may wish to consult the notebooks, photographs, or other sources to satisfy themselves that the information is correct — or at least not clearly incorrect. (The notebooks — PDF files of scanned pages — may be found at this page.)

Downloading the Files

Please proceed to the download page to obtain the data files.

About this document:

• Title: "Final Report, CSA Propylaea Project: Guide to Survey Database
• Author: Harrison Eiteljorg, II and the staff of CSA, Box 60, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, (e-mail: user nicke at (@) the domain csanet.org; tel.: 484-612-5862)
• Original file name: databasedoc.html
• Revision history: Since this document is part of the CSA Propylaea Project Final Report and has been archived with the Archaeology Data Service, changes should not occur. Serious mistakes may be corrected; if so, clear indications of corrections will be included. First posted: 3 August, 2000. Last updated (formatting only): July, 2012. Prepared for ADS archival storage June, 2013.
• Internet access: This document was first prepared for propylaea.csanet.org, operated by the Center for the Study of Architecture and Harrison Eiteljorg, II. It has been turned over to the Archaeology Data Service for archival preservation.
• Long-term availability: This document or its successors will be maintained for electronic access indefinitely.