Historical newspaper submission dated 2009-07-23. The manuscript submission date is documented; the newspaper issue date is not recorded here. Original reporting and contemporary technology references are retained; historical Natchitoches Preservation Network links have been updated to its revived Ning domain.
If you haven’t heard it already, the future is mobile. I never really understood that until I got an iPhone. Now–anytime and anywhere–I can do things like e-mail, take photos, record podcasts, read a book, watch a movie, calculate tips and even blog. Everything but reliably make a phone call it seems, but that’s another story.
A Mobile Survey Tool
Mobility is even extending to heritage preservation these days. The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training is developing software to inventory and assess historic landscapes. NCPTT web developer Sean Clifford is working with Joe Evans, an intern in NCPTT’s Historic Landscapes program, to create versions of the software for Windows tablet PC and the iPhone.
If you want to read more about the technical details of the project, check out Joe’s blog at natchitochespreservation.ning.com. So why does the world need an application to inventory and assess historic landscapes? And what makes a landscape historic anyway?
Why Historic Landscapes Need Context
Of all the fields dealing in cultural heritage, landscapes is perhaps the toughest to get one’s mind around. Unlike a building or an archaeological artifact, a landscape is not meant to exist unchanged as a monument to another time. Landscapes grow, change and adapt to the environment every hour of every day. Humans can intervene to preserve structures, but we can’t keep vegetation alive indefinitely.
In fact, this is one area of preservation in which human interaction is an essential part of its historic value. Would we value the Grand Canyon as much if none of us were allowed near it? What about Gettysburg, or even American Cemetery on Second Street? By walking in those places and experiencing them with all of our senses, we connect with their significance. And we want to protect them for others to enjoy.
Last year, I had the opportunity to go to London for a conference and was thrilled a the prospect of seeing the British Museum. Yet, in glass cases, thousands of miles out of context, the artifacts from every major civilization in the history of humankind didn’t inspire the kind of awe I expected. What did? Scenes like a Peruvian immigrant railing against unfair wages at Hyde Park’s famed Speakers’ Corner. Or recognizing Gracechurch Street from its mention in Pride and Prejudice (which I was reading at the time). Historical events play a role in adding value to such a landscape, but so does one’s experience.
Mobile documentation methods will ensure that landscapes are preserved with their context. If you’d like to learn more, Joe Evans, who is an incoming graduate student in the Heritage Resources program at NSU, will be showing the results of his summer research during the annual Preservation In Your Community event on Aug. 11.
What Remains
The handheld-phone experiment described in 2009 anticipated tools that have become commonplace in field documentation. The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training continues to research and teach digital methods alongside conservation of historic landscapes and other cultural resources. The original landscape-survey application’s subsequent development and availability have not yet been established, so this column is also an important record of an early prototype. The lasting need is to preserve not only coordinates and photographs, but also the human observations that give a landscape meaning. NCPTT research and training.
Updated October 2026
Supporting Documents & SourcesView related reporting & supporting materials
| Related article | The Dark Store: a 2010 3D documentation effort |
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Article Catalog CardView the manuscript record, provenance & surviving materials
| Artifact | Original newspaper column manuscript. |
|---|---|
| Institution | Natchitoches Times; National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. |
| Period | 2009-07-23 submission. |
| Role | Columnist, heritage-media communicator. |
| Evidence | Correspondence sent to the newspaper and attached original photograph(s): joe evans.jpg. |
| What survives | Manuscript, original captions, and photo attachments. |
| Status | Archival republication. Print verification and review of photo rights/captions outstanding. |
Critical Questions + Add to the Record
Application here: Mobile surveying promised easier landscape documentation, while raising enduring questions about retaining location data, field notes, and context after the software changes.
Know something that adds context, documentation, correction, or firsthand knowledge to this record? Keep this page open and copy its URL into the contribution form.
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