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Information Management

Information Management Branch is responsible for managing the Royal Commission’s information base. This includes:

The National Monuments Record of Wales, the national archive for the historic environment of Wales.

Coflein, the associated national database and ‘inventory’ of historic sites and monuments.

The Royal Commission’s Geographic Information System (GIS).

The Branch works closely with a wide range of partners to develop and promote standards in these specialist areas and to ensure sustainable public access to the records. Although it is a small unit, it works at the forefront of developing technologies for publicly accessible spatial data and values the support and versatility that working in partnership can provide. Major partnerships include:

SWISH (Shared Web Information Services for Heritage), which is a ground-breaking initiative with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

END (Extended National Database), which facilitates the exchange of information between a consortium of organisations, including Cadw, the National Museum of Wales and the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts, coordinated by the Royal Commission

Following the development of Coflein through the SWISH partnership, the branch is developing a portal for the historic environment - Historic Wales - which will provide, alongside Coflein, an online geographic search facility for Cadw’s Scheduled Ancient Monuments' and Listed Buildings' records and the National Museum of Wales’ archaeology collections.

Other important responsibilities for the branch include:

Oversight and grant-aid for the four regional Historic Environment Records maintained by the Welsh Archaeological Trusts.

Provision of archaeological information to the Ordnance Survey for mapping purposes.

Maintenance and development of the Royal Commission’s Information Technology systems and infrastructure.

To carry out these responsibilities the branch has a team of highly skilled specialist staff with expertise in various archaeological and information-related disciplines. The branch is organised into three sections:

Data Management – responsible for maintaining and developing the National Monuments Record of Wales’ database and Coflein, oversight of the regional Historic Environment Records, data standards and information technology.

Archive and Records Management – responsible for the National Monuments Record of Wales’ archive, digitisation, archive standards (including digital standards), records management and Freedom of Information and Data Protection compliance.

Archaeological Mapping – responsible for the provision of archaeological surveys to the Ordnance Survey for mapping purposes, air-photographic mapping, maintenance and development of the Geographic Information System and related research projects.

The Branch is developing the Historic Wales portal, refining electronic archive accessibility and providing a historic environment thesaurus through the SWISH partnership as part of the ongoing development of Coflein. It is also developing historic environment resources for mobile devices with grant-aid from CyMAL and undertaking a pilot project linking archaeological records with Ordnance Survey digital mapping.