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Creating a Cultural Coverage
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Coding the Village Inventory

A cultural coverage was created in ArcView 3.2 (for Windows) using the South Kingstown parcel map, data from RIGIS, and non-digital reports and studies. A complete description of these is presented in Data Sources. Existing plat / lot tax parcels were determined to be the mapable unit for several reasons:

• Cultural resources fall into one or more existing polygons. While this is not always the case, the problems created are not severe.
• Using existing parcels eliminates the need for on-screen polygon digitizing, a time-consuming and complicated process.
• Points tend to omit context and do not work for identifying large landscapes.
• Tax parcels are the unit by which open space is acquired. The South Kingstown Land Trust, the town, and the state all evaluate open space purchases on the parcel level.
• Parcels are typically large enough to be used for display purposes and are accurate at large scale.

Existing RIGIS coverages (the Scenic Areas and National Register Sites) were applied to South Kingstown parcels using the ‘Select by Theme’ function in ArcView. All parcels that intersected the themes were coded as containing that resource (except for parcels whose intersection with the Scenic Areas coverage was substantially within the positional accuracy margin of error of +/- 100 feet, usually less than 10 feet). The RIGIS Historic Districts and Historic Candidate Sites coverages were outdated and often inaccurate at the parcel level. Primary maps and reports from the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Cultural Heritage Commission were used to locate the exact parcels.

Archeological sites were not used because their precise location is masked to prevent site contamination and theft. A detailed list of known and potential archeological sites is available from the Historical Preservation and Cultural Heritage Commission. In general, archeological sites are well documented and protected from development. Due to relatively intense European and pre-Columbian settlement, much of South Kingstown can be considered archeologically significant. (1)

Parcels were coded using common names or the identification present in the original survey. This allows for searching of the database by common or local name rather than street address and preserves adequate display options. In the case of the Inventory of Village and Rural Qualities, a unique coding system was developed with the input of several of the study's authors. The rationale for this system is developed in Coding the Village Inventory. None of the parcel polygons were split or combined. In the case of roads, parcels with frontage on the roadway were coded as containing the cultural designation. This is consistent with the purpose of scenic roadway designation, that is, to preserve the character of the physical right of way and the immediately adjacent landscape.

Orthographic photographs and USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle maps were used to verify the exact location of parcels. When this was not sufficient, site visits were made.

Creating HTML Hotlinks
Using the script 'Link URL' from the ESRI ArcScripts Library, parcels with cultural designation was assigned to an HTML page accessible through the hotlink tool.

Exact specifications regarding the GIS data are available in Metadata.

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