
Online Map Leads Archaeologist to Maya Discovery - pseudolus
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/science/archaeology-lidar-maya.html
======
lightedman
This is almost the same way I hunt minerals, excepting I use LANDSAT and ASTER
data overlaid with MRDS records, USGS geological units, Public Land Survey
System, magnetic anomalies and gravity anomalies.

Last weekend I found a major agate deposit, very gorgeous white agate mixed
with amethyst.

I'm the maintainer of the Google Earth LANDSAT and ASTER data access.
Unofficially, the actual maintainer no longer works with the USGS so I've
taken it upon myself to keep the dataset available and up to date.

------
devb
If you're interested in lidar data for the United States, the USGS has a great
tool online:

[https://apps.nationalmap.gov/3depdem/](https://apps.nationalmap.gov/3depdem/)

I've used it to map old quarries and other sites in my area.

New Hampshire has an ongoing project to map stone walls using lidar:
[http://www.granit.unh.edu/resourcelibrary/specialtopics/ston...](http://www.granit.unh.edu/resourcelibrary/specialtopics/stonewalls/)

~~~
hanoz
Here's a map I made for the UK, well, England and Wales...

[https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map](https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map)

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
How is that being used in the functioning of your website?

Or was it just a fun thing you were playing around with on a hidden page?

~~~
hanoz
The latter really. It's a side project within a side project.

~~~
bainsfather
Hanoz - can you give some info on the coverage of the lidar data?

From viewing your map, it seems ~ 70% of England is covered at 1m resolution.
Is the other 30% covered by different resolutions or are there some areas not
covered at all? Any idea what the Environment Agency's thinking is? (e.g. some
areas hit by 2015 Boxing Day floods are not covered at 1m).

(I'm maybe interested in using their data, depending on what the coverage is).
Thanks.

------
pbhjpbhj
There's an open-data win here.

Also a technology win in that sites that have had digs still revealed new
archaeology with lidar mapping (aeroplane and drone).

Presumably we have enough tech now that the Dr who found the 27 new sites can
train an ML algorithm to recognise sites and buildings (and do metrological
analysis automatically?)? Is there a generalised image analysis system for
aerial imagery that catalogues buildings/roads/ruins/foliage/etc.?

~~~
maxerickson
Training data is an issue. Microsoft released some datasets of buildings in
North America (125 million footprints). Later, they decided to use the same
technology to generate building footprints in Uganda and Tanzania:

[https://blogs.bing.com/maps/2019-09/microsoft-
releases-18M-b...](https://blogs.bing.com/maps/2019-09/microsoft-
releases-18M-building-footprints-in-uganda-and-tanzania-to-enable-ai-assisted-
mapping)

They needed different training data to cope with the different landscapes.

Facebook has faced similar challenges trying to use ML to generate road
centerlines for OpenStreetMap.

------
lelima
Maya mia!

------
bristleworm
Here's the text without paywall:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20191009015429/https://www.nytim...](https://web.archive.org/web/20191009015429/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/science/archaeology-
lidar-maya.html)

~~~
joshspankit
Didn’t work for me. Caveat: I’m already at the limit.

