1. The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD
THE MAPPING OF A LONG-TERM
EXCAVATION SITE
Agenbroad
Esker
W.J. ‘Drop Bear’ Wilkins
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2. The Good Old Days: String Grids
Strengths:
Accurate
Low-tech
Weaknesses:
Datums not fixed
Limited database
No automated analysis
Artistic skills needed
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3. Early Computer Mapping
Prior state of the art
Nikon™ C-100 total station:
Restricted bonebed placement
Easily misused
AutoCad AutoDesk™ 12:
Not intended for cartography
‘Angry amoeba and bacillus’ syndrome
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4. GIS and Computer Mapping Today
Trimble™ 5600 Robotic total station:
Easy to use.
Can be placed anywhere.
One-person operation.
ArcGIS™ 9.3.3:
Designed for cartography.
Allows for analysis.
More accurate.
New and Old Overlay
New and Old Overlay
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5. How-To: Photography Check for field number. Place ≥ 4 anchor points.
Level camera.
Bigger bones can be a problem.
Photograph with CraneCam.
(Provided for scale)
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6. How-To: Equipment Set-Up
Place the tripod.
Activate the handheld computer and rod.
Level and activate transit.
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7. How-To: The Back-Sites
Bonebed Back-Sites:
Five positions with known 3 axis coordinates.
Nikon™ had to be placed on one of the back sites.
Trimble™ can be placed anywhere.
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8. How To: Shooting the Points
Shoot in each anchor point, going clockwise from the north.
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9. How-To: Clean-Up
Do everything you just did in reverse
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10. How To: Data Conversion
Download the pictures from the camera
Correct the picture format
Download the GIS data from the handheld and reformat it
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11. Digitization: Continued
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12. The Finished Product: As of April, 2010: 1,091 bones. 5 coprolites.
297 fragments.
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13. Humpty-Dumpty 86HS036 Winnie Napoleon and Beauty Murray Antoinette
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14. What About the Older Bones?
Why early discoveries are problematic:
Bones may have been removed from bonebed
Old pictures with anchor points unlikely
Procedure for mapping bones no longer in the bonebed:
Find paper map
Use old string grid control points as anchor points
Trace bone rendering from paper map
Add old notebook data to database
Double check work
Use new photographs to enhance accuracy
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15. Into the 3rd Dimension Current Map Elevation Data: LIDAR
Facilitates limited 3-D analysis
Permits some spatial manipulation
Shows elevation of anchor points, not bone surfaces
Treats bones as flat objects on planes defined by the anchor points
LIDAR
True 3-D
Sub-millimeter accuracy
$$$$
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16. Photosynth™
Photogrammetry program by Microsoft™ and the University of Washington
Simple requirements:
Good digital camera
Fast computer
Internet connection
Free software
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17. Murray Antoinette
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18. How To: ‘Synth’ Take many high-res photos from many angles.
30-40 pictures minimum.
pictures maximum.
Load pictures into Photosynth™ to generate point cloud.
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19. How To: Catch a Cloud Load synth on Photosynth™ website.
Activate Wireshark™ packet analyzer.
Download each .bin file to your computer.
Use a Python™ script to convert .bin files to .csv files.
Merge the .csv files and convert them to single large .txt file.
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20. How To: Make a Mesh of Things
Load .txt file into Trimble’s RealWorks Viewer™ and export as a .dxf file.
Load .dxf file with AccuTrans 3D™ and export as a .ply file.
Load the .ply file with MeshLab™, and use pivot-ball reconstruction to generate the mesh.
Whew!
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21. 10:51:11 AM

22. Results Cons: Pros: Time consuming. Lower resolution than LIDAR.
Lower accuracy than LIDAR.
Pros:
Cheap.
Low distortion (≈2.5% at mp photos)
Allows for ‘ghost mapping.’
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23. In the Future: Recover the Past
Mammoth Site
Work began B.D.C. (Before Digital Cameras)
Numerous chemical photos and movies, and videos recorded early excavation.
Most important bones remain in-situ
Photosynth requirements
Many photos
Reference points
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24. Acknowledgments
‘Binary Millennium’ and the other anonymous gurus of the ‘net
Ferber Engineering
Frontier Precision
Institute of Information Science and Technologies of Pisa, Italy
MicroMouse Productions
Microsoft & University of Washington
David Gedye
Python Project
Rosalie Symington
Trimble
Wireshark
Gerald Combs
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