SVG as an archival format?

Hello all

I have a bit of (what may be) an odd question for the group. I've been
following the development of SVG as part of my continued assessment of its
usefulness within archaeology for some time (topic of my MSc, etc.), but I
now find myself working for the national archive for archaeological data in
the UK, and unsurprisingly, am becoming interested in the potential of SVG
as an archival format for archaeological data.

As much of archaeology is a destructive process, the documentation created
during excavation becomes the primary data source, and must therefore be
preserved for future use. Much of the documentation is in the form of field
drawings, which are often digitised in vector format. To my mind, SVG is an
optimal archival format, being non-proprietary, a W3C recommendation, and
allowing much of the functionality in the original drawings to be preserved.

My reason for contacting the group is to ask what you all think about the
future of SVG as an archival format for preservation and forward migration.
The only real concern I see at this point is far more applications which
support SVG output than input (we are most interested in compatibility with
CAD and GIS applications), but if there are other issues or future trends I
should be aware of, I would be most grateful to hear about them as we move
forward in making policy decisions about its use within our organisation.

Many thanks!

Holly


-- 
Dr Holly Wright
Archaeology Data Service
Department of Archaeology
University of York
The King's Manor
York
YO1 7EP

Tel: +44 1904 323967
Fax: +44 1904 323939
Email: holly.wright@york.ac.uk

http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/
http://www.york.ac.uk/

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