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Software (maybe a command line tool or an R package?) that shows astronomical relations if given a coordinate, a coordinate and an angle, or two coordinates in eyeshot. It should allow to get a quick estimation if a certain location or man made structure was build with respect to astronomical features as discussed in Archaeoastronomy.

Despite the obvious problem that correlation does not mean causation, for some contexts, like for example ritual architecture in the European Metal Ages, astronomical obervations seemed to be very relevant.

This software package should allow the user to get a quick overview about possible relations like solstices, lunistice, planet rises, etc..

I already posted that in @zackbatist s open-archaeo ToDo list and I believe this session might be a good environment to tackle this.

Within the currently available geom's ggplot() is offering, a proper illustration of (dating) intervals is hardly possible. Usually geom_rect() or geom_segment() are used to display data -- e.g. chronological phases -- with a given start and end date.

library(ggplot2)

phase <- c("A", "B", "X")
from <- c(1200, -400, 250)
to <- c(1800, 200, 600)

chrono <- data.frame(phase, from, to)

ggplot(data = chrono, 
       aes(x = to, 
           xend = from, 
           y = phase, 
           yend = phase, 
           label = phase)) + 
  geom_segment(size = 6, alpha = .4) + 
  geom_text(hjust = -2) + 
  theme_minimal()

Within last years presentation during the EAA (Barcelona; see RDF based modeling of relative and absolute chronological data ) we were unable to propperly display intervals using R/ggplot.

Within that same framework I would suggest trying to implement Allen's Interval Algebra (doi:10.1016/B978-1-4832-1447-4.50033-X) within an R package. While it seems to be interesting, especially within archaeological research, it seems to be hardly known by anybody as there are no tools available to model and display these relationships effectively. And as chronology is at the basis of most archaeological reasoning I would propose it as a project for the unconference.

An interface that prompts users to document various aspects of their datasets and highlight or explain the implicit relationships between tables or variables. May be especially valuable for organizing series of scattered spreadsheets.

1. User selects a series of spreadsheets, MS Access databases or SQL databases, PDFs of blank physical recording sheets, images of blank physical tags, directory structures, etc
   • For physical recording sheets and tags, user selects and highlights the fields that are represented on those media, which are then included in subsequent stages
2. Prompt to delimit scope
   • Written explanation, i.e. this documentation explains the extensive portion of our database that deals with lithics processing
   • Select which tables or components to include
   • The scope of file directories, what they are meant to contain (e.g.: /trench001/ contains all files pertaining to trench 001 including trench report and section drawings, /trench001/context0001 contains all info pertaining to context 0001 including folder for pics, special finds from within context 0001, etc)
   • Notes regarding the project as a whole, why the data is being collected, what kinds of work can or will be done with it, etc.
3. Prompt to document each table
   • Why does it exist? What is it meant to include?
   • Who contributes to it? Provide names and contact info
   • How are these tables populated? e.g.: web forms, physical recording sheets copied over, API access, etc
4. Prompt to document the variables for each table
   • Identify and explain the composition of indexes, why indexes require or do not require unique values, etc
   • Identify and explain the reasons behind each relationship between table indexes (populated based on fuzzy searches to similarly named variables elsewhere)
   • Identify implicit groupings among dependent variables, e.g.: if different survey point collection methods have different variables associated with them (dog leash samples are associated with values in radius variable, whereas grab samples are not)
   • If values are selected from a preset list, what does each value in the list represent?
5. Contact info of key personnel in charge of managing the project and its data
6. Generate fancy visualizations and reports
   • Colour-coded variable groupings
   • Flow charts representing the drawn-out processes through which data is filled in to various tables

• Also, optional suggestions to relate concepts to CIDOC-CRM or ARIADNE reference model somehow?