These projects may reveal previously unknown sites, but they can also destroy those sites without careful planning for preservation. State land-use planners will use the Atlas to identify historic or prehistoric site locations early in the infrastructure development process, and modify their projects accordingly. THC selected Intergraph s GIS product suite to compile the information because it has long been available on Windows NT and fully supports Microsoft s SQL Server database. Each site has a record in the database giving location and identification information. Each record is read directly into MGE, and symbols are generated for different types of sites.
Related tables hold more detailed information.
The Atlas will be available for public use in January 1998. Users will connect to the atlas s World Wide Web site and complete a brief online log-in procedure. Then they will have immediate access to the public data. The map-based system interface will help people define their search topics. The system will generate a new map of the selected region, plot the locations of all historic sites related to the key words, and transfer the map to the user s computer for viewing or printing.