Wessex Archaeology's IT department helped author and currently supports the Framework FreeViewer, a free downloadable geographic information system tailored to the dissemination of digital data created by archaeological field work projects.
One Friday in late 2002 we received the request for ideas for a digital publication strategy for the data created by one of Europe's largest archaeological excavations that was currently underway at Terminal 5, Heathrow. Since much of the data was geographic in nature (the site plans derived from digital survey techniques) it was clear we needed some sort of geographic information system (GIS) that we could widely distribute.
Fortuitously, we had been experimenting with the Delphi programming language and a GIS toolkit from TatukGIS and after a fairly hectic week-end we could demonstrate to the project team a prototype of one possible strategy that we could follow.
This consisted of a desktop-based application and associated data that could be packaged with a .msi installer for installation on a user's computer. It was clear also that we would be able to package the entire application as a single executable file, using the Windows operating system itself to provide database access. By doing this we could avoid potential issues with dynamic linked library deployment and considerably simplify future updates and upgrades to the software. With a reliance on deployment to computer desktops, simplicity of installation was essential.
The prototype supported display of the site map and the ability to click on the map and examine the descriptions of the excavated archaeological features and the objects found within them. It also demonstrated how we were intending to build in the results of the publication analyses which could be configured completely differently according to the specific requirements of each archaeological project.
Without Delphi, we would probably have spent far longer arriving at a possible solution and we are able to distribute as many copies of the software and data as are required. Even with the widespread adoption today of Microsoft's popular .NET framework for developing and deploying applications to computers running Windows, there is no guarantee that the .NET Framework is installed on any computer to which deployment of the Framework FreeViewer is desired. Therefore, in comparison to the available Microsoft technologies, Delphi makes installation easy.
Of course that was 2002; at that time we were still to fully define the purpose of the application and expand on the prototype.