FieldNote: a Handheld Information System for the Field

Research fieldwork in disciplines such as archaeology and the environmental sciences often involves construction of a GIS for analysis and visualisation of field observations. At either end of this process, initial planning and the final production of a synthesised model and published results are well supported by conventional GIS. In between, much effort is often expended on data entry, format conversion and other tedious tasks before the analysis can begin. Multiple field visits and the need to collate the work of different specialists may significantly increase the complexity and tedium of these tasks. The FieldNote system described here integrates handheld tools for data collection and re-use into the process in a way that is minimally intrusive on the fieldworkers normal tasks. The concept of context-awareness is used to maximise the automation of data collection and retrieval in the field, and to enable rapid sharing of information between co-workers.