Informing the Future of the Past Glossary#
A#
ACAO#
Association of County Archaeological OfficersADAO#
Association of District Archaeological OfficersAdoption of the HER#
Refers to the adoption by a local authority of a HER as the information resource on which planning decisions concerning the archaeological environment will be basedAddress matching#
A geocoding process which matches the street address of a property to its location. This usually involves the matching of two database flies, the first containing the address of interest, the second the list of addresses and their co-ordinatesADS#
Archaeology Data Service: provides services for the AHDS relating to digital resources that are created as a product of archaeological research, in collaboration with national and local agencies.AGI#
Association for Geographical Information.AHDS#
Arts and Humanities Data Service: funded by the academic community to collect, catalogue and preserve digital data and distribute these for use in teaching and research.AIfA#
Associate member of the Institute for Archaeologists.AIP#
Archaeological Investigations Project: an English Heritage funded project which monitors archaeological fieldwork generated through planning advice as a result of PPG 16.ALGAO UK#
Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers (UK)AM107#
A Scheduled Monument reporting form.AN32#
A recording form for information about scheduled monuments developed by English Heritage in the early 1980s.AMIE#
A computer database developed for the RCHME's (now English Heritage) to hold text-based information about monuments, archives and events. It holds the data on the National Record of the Historic Environment, Excavation Index and archive catalogues. This replaced NewHIS.ANSI#
American National Standards Institute.Anti-virus software#
Software that is designed to identify the presence of computer viruses and which provides facilities for their safe removal from a computer system. This software incorporates an index to currently known viruses, and as new versions are rapidly introduced, must be regularly updated.AONB#
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.ArcGIS#
GIS software supplied by Esri.Archaeological Objects Thesaurus#
A thesaurus that is maintained by the mda as part of INSCRIPTION to provide indexing terminology for archaeological objects.Archive#
‘The documents created or received and accumulated by a person or organisation in the course of the conduct of affairs and preserved because of their long-term value’ (International Council on Archives).Archwilio#
The website that gives on-line access to the Historic Environment Records of the Welsh Archaeological Trusts.ArcView#
GIS software supplied by Esri.ARENA#
Archaeological Records of Europe Network Access: a project to search for archaeological sites and monuments from six European countries: UK, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Romania and Poland. The UK is represented in the project by the ADS.ARIA#
Association of Regional and Island Archaeologists. ARIA represented the most senior archaeologists employed by or for local planning authorities in Scotland , but in 2006 merged with colleagues from England and Wales to form ALGAO UK.ASCII#
American Standard Code for Information Interchange text or delimited text for structured data.ASLIB#
Association for Information Management: promotes best practice in management of information resources.ASPIRE#
Archaeological Standard Protocol for the Integrated Reporting of Events (Scotland)ATF#
Archaeology Training ForumAttribute#
A particular item of text, whether numeric or alphabetic, that is used to control the entry of terms into a unit of information.Authority list#
A list of terms, whether numeric or alphabetic, that is used to control the entry of terms into a unit of information.AutoCAD#
Drawing software often used with GIS.B#
Backing-up data#
The process by which copies are made of computer data and placed in safe storage to provide a facility to restore information in the event of system failures or other losses (such as theft of computers).BAR#
British Archaeological Reports.BAR#
Buildings at Risk. In England this is now part of HaR.Bath Profile#
An International Z39.50 Specification for Library Applications and Resource DiscoveryBECTA#
British Education Communications and Training Agency.BestValue#
A national Government initiative which sets out a duty for local authorities 'to deliver services to clear standards, covering both cost and quality, by the most effective, economic and efficient means available' (IDEA 2000).BGS#
British Geological SurveyBIAB#
British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography: an annual indexed list of archaeological publications for Great Britain and Ireland maintained by the CBA, with funding from national heritage agencies and others.Broader term#
A term that represents a parent to a term or other terms. The broader term is super-ordinate to its subordinate narrow term. One term may have many narrower terms and, in turn, each narrow term may itself have narrower terms.BTCV#
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.Building assessment#
A professional assessment of a built structure by an architectural historian, archaeologist or other specialist.Buffer#
A zone of user-specified distance around a point, line or area feature. Buffers are commonly used as a means of identifying the proximity of features (for example, finding all archaeological monuments within a 1 kilometre corridor of a proposed motorway).BVPI#
Best Value Performance Indicator.C#
CAD#
Computer Aided Design: software programme for the design, drafting and presentation of graphics. Originally designed for manufacturing drawing, now also widely used for mapping.Cadastre#
A dataset containing information related to landownership and rights. This usually takes she form of maps and descriptions of uniquely identifiable land parcels. For each parcel, legal information such as ownership, easements and mortgages are recorded.Cadw#
Cadw (Welsh for ‘to keep’) is the historic environment division within the Welsh Assembly Government with responsibility for protecting, conserving and promoting an appreciation of the historic environment of Wales.Candidate term#
A new term that has been proposed for inclusion in a thesaurus or wordlist.CANMAP#
A map enabled query system for Canmore.Canmore#
Canmore is the name given to the RCAHMS database. It contains details of c.250,000 archaeological sites, monuments, buildings and maritime sites in Scotland, together with an index to the drawings, manuscripts and photographs in the NMRS collections. Images of some of the photographs or drawings in the collection are also available in Canmore. Searches can be made on name, location, site type or collection, or by using the Canmore mapping service, CANMAP.Card-index system#
A topical set of ordered cards maintained to provide an index to a collection: for example a card index to a library might be ordered by author's name.CARN (Wales)#
Core Archaeological Record Index. CARN is being developed as the public entry point to the Extended National Database for Wales, a national information resource for archaeology and architecture compiled by archaeological organisations across Wales.CBA#
Council for British Archaeology.CCN#
Countryside Character Network.CD/CD-ROM/CD-RW#
Compact Disc/Compact Disc Read-Only Memory/Compact Disk – Rewritable.Cell#
The basic element within a grid or raster dataset.Centroid#
The centre point of a polygon, often used to attach attribute information to an area such as a census ward. These may be mathematically derived or user defined.CHNTO#
Cultural Heritage National Training Organisation, formerly the MTI.CIDOC#
Comitte International pour la Documentation, Conseil International des Musees: the Documentation Committee of the International Council of Museums.CIMI#
Centre for Industrial and Medical InformaticsCIS#
Countryside Information SystemClass#
A grouping of terms representing concepts within a general subject area. The terms within a class need not be hierarchically related.Codes of Practice#
Guidance notes issued by trade associations, professional associations and the like, regarding the conduct of their members.Coflein#
Coflein is the online databse for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW) – the national collection of information about the historic environment of Wales. The name is derived from the Welsh cof (memory) and lein (line)Collecting policy#
A policy document which defines the physical material which it is within scope of the HER to collect, this should also include a policy for appropriate disposal of inappropriate material. This document is separate to the recording policy (see below).Compound term#
A term that is made up of two or more concepts. These are usually divided up into separate terms for each concept except where this affects the meaning or where its use is very well established.Conservation area#
An area of historical and architectural character whose boundaries have been designated in local plans. Local planning authorities have special planning powers covering these areas which aim to preserve and enhance their character.Conservation plan#
A plan produced by a local authority which identifies a conservation area and sets out plans for preserving and enhancing it. A Conservation Plan provides a single approach to understanding and managing the cultural significance of a place. It explains why a site is significant and how that significance will be retained in any future use, alteration, development or repair. The same approach can be used for historic gardens, landscapes, buildings, archaeological sites, collections or even a ship and is particularly relevant when a site has more than one type of heritage.Consultation#
Refers to requests for information and professional advice made by planning authorities, developers, Government agencies and curators.Co-operation Statement#
A 1998 statement on behalf of the RCHME, ALGAO and English Heritage setting out the current position relating to SMRs and a shared vision for their future development (RCHME, ALGAO and English Heritage 1998).Co-ordinate#
Numbers representing the position of a point relative to an origin. Cartesian co-ordinates express the location in two or three dimensions as the perpendicular distances from two or three orthogonal axes.Copyright#
Legal rights associated with the originators of material.CORINE#
Land cover data.COSLA#
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. COSLA is the representative voice of Scottish local government and also acts as the employer’s association on behalf of all Scottish Councils.CPA#
Continuous Performance AssessmentCPD#
Continuous Professional DevelopmentCREE#
Contextual Resource Evaluation Environment consortium.CRM#
Cultural Resource Management.CRM#
Conceptual Reference Model.CSA#
Council for Scottish Archaeology. The CSA is a voluntary membership organisation that works to secure the archaeological heritage of Scotland for its people through education, promotion and support.CUCAP#
Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photographs maintained by the Landscape Modelling Unit (formerly Cambridge University Committee on Aerial Photography): a body which has been involved in undertaking aerial-photographic surveys for archaeological and environmental research and management and which holds an important collection of air photographs.CyMAL#
Museums Archives and Libraries Wales.D#
DAC#
Diocesan Advisory CommitteeDatabase Right#
Legal rights associated with the originators of computer databases.Data capture#
The process of capturing information into a computer system. This may involve direct input from a keyboard, scanning, digitising or transfers of digital data from external sources.Data dictionary#
A reference work that sets out the data fields or units of information incorporated into a computer system or card index. A data dictionary specifies the information that it is appropriate to record in each field and any wordlists or thesauri to be used.Data migration#
The planned movement of data to new formats and more recent versions of software.Data model#
A generalised, user-defined view of data representing the real world and entitles therein. For example, the concepts of monuments and events, and their relationship is a model of 'real world' entitles expressed through a particular organisation of data.Data standards#
Data standards set out what information it is important to record about a particular subject and how this should be carried out. The aim is to promote consistency in the way in which information is recorded to enable its retrieval.Data transfer#
Transfer of digital data between one computer system and another.DC#
Development Control.DCLG#
Department for Communities and Local Government.DCMS#
Department for Culture, Media and SportDDA#
Disabilities Discrimination Act: 1995 Act of Parliament setting out equal rights of the disabled.DDE#
Dynamic Data Exchange: a protocol incorporated into the Windows operating system that allows one application to exchange data or to trigger an action in another application.DEFRA#
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. DEFRA was created in June 2001 from the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and from the environmental and countryside business areas of the then Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR).DEM#
Digital Elevation Model, or terrain model: a data model used to represent a topographic surface, often based on a grid with height value for each cell, or on a set of irregular triangles (later known as a TIN model).DETR#
Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.Digital archiving#
Long-term preservation and future use of static digital data.Digitising#
The process of converting or encoding existing maps from an analogue form (paper) into digital information, usually in the form of Cartesian co-ordinates. This may be via a digitising table or a tablet with a handheld cursor, or via a scanner.Diocesan archaeologist#
Church of England archaeological adviser.Disaster plan#
A plan which helps staff to react in the event of a disaster and to cope with the aftermath. The process identifies precautions to reduce the possibility of a disaster, procedures to meet immediate requirements in the event of a disaster and contingency plans for coping with the aftermath.DOB#
CBA's Defence of Britain project.DoE#
Department of the Environment.DPA#
Data Protection Act: 1998 Act of Parliament setting out the obligations of the holders of personal data to the subjects of that data.Dublin Core#
A standard content-description model widely used on the internet.DVD/DVD-ROM#
Digital Video or Digital Versatile Disc/Digital Video or Digital Versatile Disc – Read Only Memory.DXF#
Digital exchange Format: a proprietary exchange format owned by Autodesk, originally for the transfer of data between CAD systems. Due to its simplicity, it is now widely used in the transfer of vector data between GIS, despite a number of limitations.E#
EAB#
Environmental Archaeology Bibliography.EAC#
Europae Archaeologiae ConsiliumEEA#
European Economic Area: includes all member states of the European Union plus some countries with associated status.EEC#
European Economic Community.e-Gov metadata standard#
A list of the elements and refinements that will be used by the public sector to create metadata for information resources. It also gives guidance on the purpose and use of each element.EH#
See English HeritageEIR#
Environmental Information Regulations, 2004.ELC#
European Landscape ConventionELS#
Entry Level Agri-Environment SchemeEMA#
Event-Monument-Archive model, see EMS.EMS Events-monuments-source data model#
A logical data model which divides information about the historic environment into site investigation (event), site interpretation (monument) and reference sources. (Formerly known as EMA – Event-Monument-Archive)Emulation#
A software interface between the operating system and the data together with the program needed to read it.END#
Extended National Database for WalesENGAGE#
National Association for Gallery Education.English Heritage#
(The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission): the statutory body which achieves, enables and promotes conservation of the historic environment in England.English Nature#
The statutory body which achieves, enables and promotes nature conservation in England.Environmental record#
Records of the natural environment.Environmental Stewardship#
Includes Entry-level Scheme (ELS) and Higher Level Scheme (HLS) in England, Tir Cynnal and Tir Gofal (in Wales) and Rural Stewardship Scheme in Scotland. Environmental Stewardship schemes are agri-environment schemes which provide funding to farmers and other land managers who deliver effective environmental management on their land.ERDAS Imagine#
Imaging software product used with GIS.ER Mapper#
Imaging software product used with GIS.ESA#
Environmentally Sensitive Area (designated by MAFF).ESRI#
GIS and mapping software supplier which produces the Arc suit of products.ETRS 89#
European Terrestrial Reference Framework.Excavation Index#
English Heritage's record of archaeological interventions in England maintained.exeGesIS SDM Ltd#
A commercial company which specialises in desktop mapping and text database solutions for conservation, environmental and local government organisations including the HER application HBSMR.Extensive Urban Survey#
English Heritage programme leading to reports on historic towns within an area and the enhancement of the HER.EU#
European Union.F#
FAME#
Federation of Archaeological Managers and EmployersFirewall#
A protective security screen to control access to locally held resources from unauthorised outside users.FISH#
Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (formerly FISHEN): a working party established to decide on terminology and develop wordlists and thesauri to be used in association with the MIDAS units of information.Flatfile#
A computer record system based on a single data table in which a record consists of a row of data fields.FLO#
Finds Liaison Officer of the portable Antiquities Scheme.FOI#
Freedom of Information Act, 2000.Forward plan#
A management plan which takes stock of the current situation and sets out plans for the future.FMW#
Field Monument WardenFree Text Search#
A query made where there is no control of the terminology that is searched upon: for example a search on 'house' would find any instance where the word is used regardless of its context.Freedom of access to information on the environment#
1990 EC directive (90/313/EEC) concerning public access to information on the environment, implemented in Great Britain through the 1992 Environmental Information Regulations (SI 1447) by the DETR. Under these regulations environmental information relates to the state of any' water or air, flora or fauna, soil, natural or other land. The 'state' includes physical, chemical and biological conditions in the past, present and future. The 'land' includes all land surfaces, buildings, land covered by water and underground strata.FTP#
File Transfer Protocol: a way of transferring digital data between source and destination systems.FWAG#
Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group.G#
Gazetteer#
A list of place names with their associated location, normally given as a grid reference. Gazetteers are published by the OS and other mapmakers and are used as an aid to finding the location of a place on a map sheet. In archaeology, gazetteers of site names and their locations are often included in journals and other publications. Gazetteers have a specific use in GIS, described separately.Also
In a GIS system, a gazetteer is a list of spatial entities, such as properties, or streets, held with their co-ordinates. Gazetteers are used in GIS for rapidly displaying a particular area on screen and also for searches. The gazetteer often forms the core of larger GIS-based applications, such as the prototype National Land Information Service.
GEM#
Group for Education in Museums.Geocode#
The element in a database used to identify the location of a particular record, for example, a postcode.Geodetic datum#
A set of parameters defining co-ordinates for all parts of the earth. For example, WGS 84 is the World Geodetic System for 1984. Varying datums are used to produce better local ‘fit’ of a spheroid (a ‘squashed’ sphere) to the actual shape of the earth – the geoid.GeoMedia#
GIS Software produced by Intergraph.GEMINI#
Geo-spatial metadata interoperability initiative.GiGateway#
Metadata Standard to replace NGDF.Also
A free web service aimed at increasing awareness of and access to geospatial information in the UK.
GIS#
Geographic Information System.GML#
Geography Markup LanguageGPS#
Global Positioning System: a position-finding system which uses radio receivers to pick up signals from four or more special satellites and compute WGS co-ordinates for the receiver.Grandfather, father, son backup system#
A method for storing previous generations of data that are continuously updated, sometimes know as GFSGrouping term#
A broader term used to gather a group of terms together but not to be used in recording.GUI#
Graphical User Interface: a method of interaction with a computer which uses pictorial buttons (icons) and command lists controlled by a mouse.H#
HaR#
Heritage at RiskHBR#
Historic Buildings Records: a name used for local-authority records providing an information-management tool for both listed buildings and other buildings of local and regional historical interest.HBSMR#
A software package for HERs that implements the MIDAS data standard which was jointly developed by the RCHME (now English Heritage) and exeGesIS SDM Ltd in partnership with ALGAO. An earlier version was called SMR.HEAVS#
Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland. The Council provides independent strategic advice to Scottish Ministers on issues affecting the historic environment.HECAS#
Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland.HEIRNET#
Historic Environment Information Resources Network: a consortium of UK bodies hosted by the CBA seeking to co-ordinate inter-operability between information systems relating to the historic environment.HEIRS#
Historic Environment Information Resources: organisations with information systems relating to archaeology and the historic environment.HELM#
Historic Environment – Local Management/ HELM provides accessible information, training and guidance to decision makers in local authorities, regional agencies and national organisations whose actions affect the historic environment. Working with key partners, HELM aims to provide the tools to manage change in the historic environment with increased skill and confidence. English Heritage promotes the need for properly resourced and actively consulted historic environment departments, conservation officers, archaeologists and historic environment records. More than 40% of local authorities have now appointed historic environment champions to provide leadership on heritage issues.HER#
Historic Environment Record: a name used for records which provide an information-management tool for both archaeology and historic buildings.HER Forum#
Historic Environment Records Forum, co-ordinated by English Heritage and ALGAO (and formerly named SMR Forum), is a discussion forum for HER professionals. Discussions are held through an e-mail discussion list and twice-yearly meetings. Its Newsletter HER News is now part of the Heritage Gateway.HER News#
Former newsletter of the HER Forum, published twice a year by English Heritage now part of the Heritage Gateway.Heritage Gateway#
English Heritage co-ordinates a partnership project with ALGAO and the IHBC to maintain a portal to local and national historic environment resources including the National Heritage List for England (NHLE), the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) and local authority Historic Environment Records (HERs) by facilitating distributed searches to provide a rich and diverse experience to users wishing to explore England’s archaeological and architectural heritage.Hierarchical wordlist#
A wordlist containing a hierarchy but no other form of relationship.Hierarchy#
An arrangement of terms showing broader and narrower relationships between the terms.Historic buildings#
Buildings which are of national, regional and local historic interest, including listed buildings.Historic Scotland#
Historic Scotland is an Agency within the Scottish Executive Education Department and is directly responsible to Scottish Ministers for safeguarding the nation’s built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment.HLA#
Historic Landuse Assessment: an analysis of past and present land use in ScotlandHLAMAP#
HLAMAP is a web-based presentation of HLA data for Scotland that allows the user to view the data by Historic Land-use Type, Period or Category as well as by Relict Period and to print out a report of any selected area.HLC#
Historic landscape characterisation: English Heritage programme to inform landscape-conservation strategies in the context of planning and agricultural policies. It is aimed at ascertaining and presenting the historic character of the present day landscape, in a form which accurately represents the complexity of the evidence.HLF#
Heritage Lottery Fund.HLS#
Higher Level Agri-Environment Scheme.Homograph#
Homographs are terms that have the same spelling but different meanings. The meanings are usually differentiated from each other by using a qualifier within round brackets after the term, for example Bank (Financial) and Bank (Earthwork).HPR#
Heritage Protection Review.HWM#
High Water Mark.Hypertext#
Document files prepared in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) for, use on the World Wide Web. These documents incorporate text with links to images, digital data and other documents.I#
lcomos#
International Council on Monuments and Sites: the international body responsible for preparing reports on sites proposed for inclusion on the World Heritage list for consideration by the World Heritage Committee.IfA#
Institute for Archaeologists: is the professional organisation for archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It promotes professional standards and ethics for conserving, managing, understanding and promoting enjoyment of heritage.IFP#
Informing the Future of the Past.IGGI#
Inter Governmental Group on Geographic Information.IHBC#
Institute of Historic Building Conservation. IHBC is the professional institute which represents conservation professionals in the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Institute exists to establish the highest standards of conservation practice to support the effective protection and enhancement of the historic environment.liP#
Investors in People: the national standard for investing in all employees. It was drawn up after research into the UK's most successful organisations found common factors in their success: good communication, effective planning, and valuing every member of staff.ILFA#
Inspiring Learning For All: an MLA produced framework that enables the ways in which museums, archives and libraries engage users in learning to be examined and evaluated.Images of England#
Images of England is an EH, HLF funded project to put a photograph of every Listed Building on the internetImagine#
GIS software product.INSCRIPTION#
The national heritage reference dataset, a collection of wordlists and thesauri developed by various heritage bodies, both national and regional, that are recommended for use in conjunction with MIDAS.Intensive urban surveys#
English Heritage programme leading directly to the creation of UADS.lnternet#
A global communications network made up of millions of computers. Access to the World Wide Web and electronic mail or 'email' are normally considered as the most important internet services.Intranet#
Closed computer networks that are established by organisations to serve the computing needs of their staff.IRIS#
Association for Industrial Archaeology's 'Index Record for Industrial Sites'.ISBN#
International Standard Book Number.ISO#
International Standards Organisation.ISP#
Internet Service Provider: an organisation that offers services including access to the World Wide Web and email.IT#
Information technology.ITN#
Integrated Transport Network.J#
K#
L#
LaMIS#
Land Management Information Service.LAN#
Local Area Network: a computer network maintained by an organisation to connect computers within a building or a single site.Landform Profile#
OS vector dataset.LandLine#
OS vector dataset.Latitude/longitude#
A spatial reference system for the earth's surface. Latitude is an angular measurement N or S of the equator, longitude is an angular measurement E or W of the meridian at Greenwich, UK.LB Online#
LB Online is a version of LBS accessible to Local Authorities and Statutory Amenity Societies via the internet.LBS#
English Heritage's Listed Building System: a computer database of the List of Buildings of special architectural or historical interest.Also
Listed Building System. The LBS is the EH database for managing information on Listed Buildings.