Archiving Previously Drawn Features of Spatial Contexts

QGIS excavation area GeoPackage layers to be used:

• [EA]_day_plan_polygons_[year]
• [EA]_context_illustration_polygons
• [EA]_day_plan_lines_[year]
• [EA]_context_illustration_lines

Archiving polygon records #

1. With the relevant orthophoto(s) still loaded in your QGIS project, use the [EA]_day_plan_polygons_[year] layer to archive all stone/earthen/ceramic or other features that are no longer visible in the orthophoto after the removal of the spatial context.
2. Edit the day plan polygons layer the same way you edited the spatial context polygon layer in the previous page: select the layer in the Layers panel and Toggle Editing to on.
3. Begin by selecting the features that are no longer visible and adding context_key data to their records in the attribute table.
   1. Open the Attribute Table of the day plan polygon layer.
   2. Use the Select tool to select the polygon feature(s) from the layer in the map canvas that are no longer visible in the orthophoto.
   3. Once you have selected the feature(s), add to the Attribute Table the context_key of the spatial context in which the relevant feature(s) were removed. This has two purposes:
      1. It associates the feature(s) with the spatial context in which they were removed;
      2. It allows the feature(s) to be filtered out and thus made invisible for the clarity of future day plans.
   4. Once the context_key has been added, the polygon(s) may disappear from the map canvas. In order to make them visible to continue working with/archiving them, you may need to add the context_key(s) in question to the filter query (see below). 
4. To archive the context, it first needs to be consolidated. If there is more than one polygon per material or area associated with a single spatial context (e.g., stone, earthen, ceramic, disturbance, etc.), the polygons of each material or area need to be “collected” into a single multi-part polygon.
   1. Select all records with the same context key
   2. Open the Processing Toolbox and search for and open the “Collect Geometries” tool
   3. Make sure the day plan polygon layer is selected in the Layers Panel
   4. Select the following parameters:
      1. “Input layer” = [active day plan polygon layer]
      2. Check the “Selected features only” checkbox
      3. Set “Unique ID fields” to “polygon_type”
      4. “Collected” = [Create temporary layer]
      5. Check the “Open output file after running algorithm” checkbox
   5. Run the tool and check the Attribute Table of the resulting “Collected” layer to ensure the proper result: if incorrect, remove the temporary layer and try again; if correct continue
   6. Select all rows in the “Collected” Attribute Table and then Edit> Copy Features
   7. Select the archival [EA]_context_illustration_polygons layer in the Layers panel, Toggle Editing to on, and select Edit> Paste Features.
   8. Fill in the context_type field to match the type of context in the DB (e.g., Collapse, Fill, Surface, Pit, Wall)
   9. Check to ensure the proper records have been added to the archival layer: if incorrect, hit undo or delete the records and try again; if correct, save the edits and Toggle Editing to off. Then, remove the context_key from the filter query.
5. It may be the case that you will remove part or all of a named feature (like a wall) and that you will need to archive the illustrations associated with it. 
   1. First, you should ensure that a consolidated illustration of the feature is stored in the [EA]_context_illustration_polygons layer and correctly labeled with the context_key, context_type, etc., associated with the group context naming the feature (e.g., 97.541.35).
   2. Second, you should archive a consolidated copy of the same illustrations representing the removal of the feature and labeled with the attribute data for the context of removal (e.g., 97.541.1090). If the whole feature was removed this will be a duplicate of the illustrations labeled with the group context number; if only part of the feature was removed, archive and label an illustration showing only the stones, etc., removed. 
   3. If only part of the feature is removed, you should also retain a consolidated illustration of what remains in situ in the [EA]_day_plan_polygons_[year] file, labeled with the attribute data for the group context naming the feature.

Archiving line records #

1. If you have drawn the outlines, continuations, or reconstructions of features that have been removed or that should become a part of the long-term archive, you should follow a process similar to that described above for polygons, but now transferring data from the [EA]_day_plan_lines_[year] layer to the [EA]_context_illustration_lines layer.
2. As with polygon illustrations, you will first consolidate all lines of a particular type (e.g., outline, continuation, reconstruction) associated with the archived feature, “collecting” them into a single multi-part line.
   1. Select all records with the same context key
   2. Open the Processing Toolbox and search for and open the “Collect Geometries” tool
   3. Make sure the day plan lines layer is selected in the Layers Panel
   4. Select the following parameters:
      1. “Input layer” = [active day plan lines layer]
      2. Check the “Selected features only” checkbox
      3. Set “Unique ID fields” to “line_type”
      4. “Collected” = [Create temporary layer]
      5. Check the “Open output file after running algorithm” checkbox
   5. Run the tool and check the Attribute Table of the resulting “Collected” layer to ensure the proper result: if incorrect, remove the temporary layer and try again; if correct continue
3. Select all rows in the “Collected” Attribute Table and then Edit> Copy Features
4. Select the archival [EA]_context_illustration_lines layer in the Layers panel, Toggle Editing to on, and select Edit> Paste Features.
5. Check to ensure the proper records have been added to the archival layer: if incorrect, hit undo or delete the records and try again; if correct, save the edits and Toggle Editing to off. Then, remove the context_key from the filter query.