{"id":34242,"date":"2018-06-24T23:55:48","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T06:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&p=34242"},"modified":"2023-08-04T15:56:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T22:56:16","slug":"digital-elevation-models-bring-mining-history-to-life","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/digital-elevation-models-bring-mining-history-to-life","title":{"rendered":"Digital Elevation Models Bring Mining History to Life"},"author":1162,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10402,1001,991],"tags":[311,17192,17202,1281],"arcnews_issues":[9332],"class_list":["post-34242","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcgis-desktop","category-commercial","category-map-modernization","tag-data-driven","tag-digital-elevation-models","tag-lidar","tag-visualization","arcnews_issues-arcnews-summer-2018","arcnews_sections-your-work"],"acf":{"short_description":"With lidar and ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, accurately documenting the archaeological elements at an old Colorado gold mining town.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

With Lidar and ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, Company Accurately Documents Archaeological Elements at Colorado Gold Mining Town<\/h2>\r\nFor about two decades from the late 1890s to the late 1910s, the Frances Townsite, in western Boulder County, Colorado, was a mining town. Located by a natural spring in a moderately high-elevation mountain gulch, the community served miners from a number of local gold mines within the immediate vicinity.\r\n\r\nBuilt around a mill, the town was formally established in 1897 when a railroad constructed a station there. While large-scale mining diminished by the early 1900s, Frances continued to serve independent miners and a burgeoning tourism industry until 1919, when the railroad closed and the town was abandoned.\r\n\r\nThe neglected buildings in Frances slowly began deteriorating. People removed some of the building materials, and the town became an archaeological site. It now sits on a combination of federal, county, and privately held lands."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":34272,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In 1997, archaeologists documented 52 former structures, or elements, in Frances, including leveled platforms, privy (outhouse) depressions, stone building foundations, and root cellars. Based on historical photographs, the archaeologists suspected that there were other elements in the area but that they had been obscured by natural processes.\r\n\r\nNot too far away, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been cleaning up the Captain Jack Mill Superfund site, where the soil and surface waters remain contaminated with metals and other hazardous materials, largely from mining. As part of the cleanup\u2019s mandate, the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s Royal Gorge Field Office (BLM-RGFO) requested that nearby historical resources, such as the Frances Townsite, be shielded from any associated impacts.\r\n\r\nTo that end, in the fall of 2016, CDPHE hired Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc., to conduct an intensive site recordation of Frances and to update the site map. The objectives were to better understand the town\u2019s spatial organization and to provide the BLM-RGFO with an accurate map so it could more carefully manage this significant archaeological resource.\r\n\r\nThe BLM-RGFO requested that the site be documented using high-precision technology and modern GIS. By collecting lidar data from The National Map<\/em>, hosted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and employing the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension for ArcGIS Desktop, Alpine was able to create a precise composite digital elevation model (DEM) of the townsite\u2019s modern surface. In addition, the company used highly accurate on-the-ground robotic survey technology to detail all the elements at the site."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":34282,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Identifying Elements with Lidar<\/h2>\r\nThe team at Alpine assumed there were going to be difficulties in rediscovering and rerecording the Frances Townsite. When the BLM-RGFO did the original site recordation in 1997, it didn\u2019t use a GPS receiver, and a local archaeologist hand mapped the townsite. While the map did detail all 52 elements\u2019 locations and was a fantastic resource for Alpine, the team wasn\u2019t sure how accurate it was, since hand-drawn maps are prone to scaling mistakes. Furthermore, the team at Alpine thought that other elements in the townsite might have been obscured by environmental processes, such as erosion or infilling.\r\n\r\nFocusing its analysis on the map\u2019s original site boundary, the team planned to use the lidar dataset from The National Map<\/em> to identify additional elements in the townsite, such as platforms, depressions, roads, and railroad grades. The first step was to process the collection of LAS files using a geoprocessing tool in ArcGIS Desktop called Create a LAS Dataset. This allowed the team to work with the collection of LAS files as if they were one and to do so directly on the LAS files without converting them.\r\n\r\nAlpine only wanted the ground data, so once the multipoint dataset was ready, the team filtered out disturbances\u2014such as canopy and water structures\u2014using the Filter tab on the Layer Properties dialog box of the LAS dataset. When it had a clean dataset, the team used the LAS Dataset To Raster tool to create the DEM."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":34292,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The most common DEMs available in the United States and North America are taken at 10-meter resolution. But The National Map<\/em> dataset that Alpine was using had point spacing of 0.411 meters, which is excellent considering that the availability of 1-meter resolution DEMs in the United States is sparse. This high-resolution lidar data was able to differentiate among ground surfaces; low, medium, and high vegetation; buildings; water; rail and road surfaces; and more, making it relatively simple for the team to filter out any surfaces it didn\u2019t need.\r\n\r\nOnce the raster was ready, the team used the Hillshade tool in the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst toolbox to create a hillshade so it could begin identifying potential elements in the Frances Townsite. The Hillshade tool produced a grayscale 3D representation of the area, putting shadows in stark relief. This enabled the Alpine team to zero in on areas that looked like depressions both in and immediately around the original site boundary. These depressions were potential evidence of buildings and other elements associated with the townsite.\r\n\r\nWith the hillshade map, the team identified 37 depressions and\/or platforms, as well as 5 linear elements that were interpreted as roads. The findings were a mix of previously recorded elements and newly identified ones\u2014including 16 new platforms\u2014and they were found both within and outside the original site boundary.\r\n

Verifying Analysis in the Field<\/h2>\r\nThe next step was to go out into the field to look for these elements. The team created a new map of the townsite with all the elements on it and then uploaded the elements\u2019 points into a Trimble GeoXT handheld GPS receiver. Knowing exactly where the elements were made it much easier to find them in the real world."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":34302,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Once on-site, the team used the results of its analyses to verify where the elements were located. They then used Trimble\u2019s S7 Total Station\u2014a piece of surveying, imaging, and 3D scanning equipment capable of subcentimeter accuracy\u2014along with a GPS unit capable of submeter accuracy (for redundancy), to record the details of each element.\r\n\r\nThirty-two of the depressions and platforms found in the hillshade turned out to be historic elements of the townsite itself. While the remaining five depressions were not specifically associated with Frances, they did reveal other ways in which the landscape was historically used. Some ended up being prospecting pits dug up during the mining boom, while others had to do with modifying the landscape.\r\n\r\nBack at the office, the team processed the resultant data using ArcGIS Desktop 10.4 and created a new, highly accurate map of the Frances Townsite. The BLM-RGFO now uses it to better manage this significant Colorado gold mining site, which will ultimately help protect it.\r\n\r\nFor more information, contact Connor C. Johnen at connor_johnen@alpinearchaeology.com<\/a> or 970-249-6761, or email Michael J. Prouty at mike_prouty@alpinearchaeology.com<\/a>."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nDigital Elevation Models Bring Mining History to Life | Summer 2018 | ArcNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With lidar and ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, Alpine Archaeological Consultants accurately documented the archaeological elements at an old Colorado gold mining town.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/digital-elevation-models-bring-mining-history-to-life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Digital Elevation Models Bring Mining History to Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With lidar and ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, Alpine Archaeological Consultants accurately documented the archaeological 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