Open source GIS and Geospatial Software in Archaeology: Towards their Integration into Everyday Archaeological Practice

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related geospatial software have been increasingly employed in archaeological research and practice during the last twenty years. They have transcended their initial use in territory studies to become part of more theoretically conscious landscape and on-site focused analyses and nowadays are routinely used in most archaeological projects. GIS analysts, rather than using a single piece of software, employ combinations of them according to their knowledge, the specific needs of the project and the availability of software. However, most professional archaeologists using GIS tend to use proprietary software due to several reasons: its assumed ease of use, their wider availability in universities and research centres, their compatibility with mainstream proprietary operating systems (also standard in public institutions), the existence of courses, books, and seminars on the use of these packages and/or the provision of technical support. While some of these reasons are still valid, during the last years open source GIS software has become more accessible, secure and compatible and many efforts have been directed towards the provision of adequate tutorials, courses and “help” files, resulting in their increased use in archaeological applications. In this paper it is argued that GIS open source software offers, not just a valid but, in some cases, a better alternative to the use of proprietary packages. After a brief overview of the archaeological use and applicability of GIS and other geospatial software, different open source packages are presented and their characteristics outlined and compared to those of widely employed proprietary software. It is concluded that the implementation of non-proprietary geospatial software can cover most of the needs of both professional archaeologists and researchers reducing costs without compromising in strength, security, ease of use and training potential, traditionally attributed to most commercial software.