Cite this as: Adler-Wölfl, K. and Skomorowski, R. 2025 GIS Tools for Urban Archaeology in Vienna. Site Mapping with Different Geometries, Internet Archaeology 70. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.70.10
Excavations in densely built city centres such as Vienna, Austria, clearly show the critical role of archaeological and historical research before digging starts. Geoinformation systems (GIS) can help process large and complex amounts of data and create accurate forecasts for construction projects.
Vienna's urban archaeology has been using point-based GIS mapping of all known archaeological sites for a long time (Wien Kulturgut). However, to visualise the full extent of sites, extensive GIS mapping in the form of polygons is advantageous. The Vienna City Archaeology Department is currently collaborating with the Federal Monuments Office to implement this approach for Vienna. The impressive vector-based GIS mapping and historical landscape reconstructions compiled by Severin Hohensinner, based on several master theses at BOKU University Vienna, were used as the database for this.
The city of Vienna plans to transfer the current online service Wien Kulturgut to Masterportal. In this new geoportal, point-based GIS mapping, combined with excavation results in the form of polylines and polygon-based GIS mapping, will serve as a key tool for archaeological research and precise archaeological forecasts for construction projects, heritage management and public access.
Corresponding author: Kristina Adler-Wölfl
kristina.adler-woelfl@stadtarchaeologie.at
Museen der Stadt Wien-Stadtarchäologie
Roman Skomorowski
roman.skomorowski@stadtarchaeologie.at
Museen der Stadt Wien-Stadtarchäologie
Figure 1: Point-based GIS mapping of archaeological sites in the Wien Kulturgut internet portal (© Stadt Wien, Wien Kulturgut).
Figure 2: Excavation results for Frankhplatz and the classification of polylines according to their period (© Stadtarchäologie Wien).
Figure 3: Vector-based GIS mappings and historical landscape reconstructions (© Severin Hohensinner et al. (BOKU University Vienna) and Wien Museum).
Figure 4: Polygon-based GIS mapping from prehistory to modern times (© Severin Hohensinner et. al. (BOKU University Vienna), Wien Museum and Stadtarchäologie Wien).
Figure 5: The polygon features are linked to the point features and polyline features via a location query (© Stadtarchäologie Wien).
Figure 6: The location of features from the Frankhplatz excavation, from the Roman period to modern times (© Stadtarchäologie Wien).
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