Arches for Science

Arches for Science is a comprehensive system to help heritage scientists, other heritage professionals, and heritage organizations secure, retrieve, visualize, compare, and share heritage science data, and manage tasks in the lab. Arches for Science currently focuses on the technical examination of art, which includes tools for annotations, material sampling, retrieval and visualization of instrument data, and image and data comparison. It is anticipated that this will provide a foundation for the application of Arches for Science for a range of other purposes.

Videos

The following videos include preliminary demonstrations of Arches for Science, and include the basic assumptions and examples of the key features of the software. The videos can also be accessed in YouTube using the Arches for Science playlist on the Arches Project YouTube Channel.

Arches for Science, Part 1 of 5: Introduction

A brief examination of what constitutes a technical examination project and what data Arches for Science is designed to manage.

Arches for Science, Part 2 of 5: Data Upload

Demonstration of the various workflows designed to facilitate intuitive data entry and the creation of structured data.

Arches for Science, Part 3 of 5: Data Use

A brief examination of the ways that one can immediately use and visualize spectral data in Arches for Science.

Arches for Science, Part 4 of 5: Search

Demonstration of the keyword and concept search capabilities of Arches for Science that allow for Data Discovery.

Arches for Science, Part 5 of 5: Search, continued

Brief demonstration of time and location-based searching in Arches for Science.

An Update on Arches For Science
(IPERION HS Workshop October 2021)

This video features Arches for Science project team members (GCI Scientist Catherine Patterson and Farallon President/CEO Dennis Wuthrich) discussing the current and planned capabilities of Arches for Science for the IPERION HS Project Workshop: “Transatlantic Cooperation in Heritage Science” on October 6, 2021.

Code Repository

Full information on implementing Arches for Science is under preparation. However, the open-source code is available. The Arches for Science code repository can be found on Github. The latest version of Arches for Science is v2.0 and it requires installation of Arches Version 7.6 LTS to load.

Arches for Reference and Sample Collections (RaSColls)

As a complement to Arches for Science, Arches for Reference and Sample Collections (RaSColls) is currently in development. This new Arches application will enable institutions to better manage their scientific reference and sample collection data and will include the ability to fully describe multiple aspects of collection items such as materiality and acquisition-related information.

Header Image: Karen Trentelman, GCI. Visible image and elemental distribution maps (gold, silver, and bismuth) of a detail from Leaf from the Hours of Louis XII. Jean Bourdichon, 1498/1499, JPGM, Ms. 79a (2004.1).

Updated: May 2025