This is a KML version of the earliest volunteered geographic data resource in classical studies: The Stoa Waypoint Database by R. Chavez and R. Scaife.
This KML version was prepared by Tom Elliott (thomase@email.unc.edu) for the Ancient World Mapping Center's Pleiades Project on 25 September 2007 using an archival database script dating to 24 May 2005, provided by Ross Scaife. It has been posted to the web for archival purposes at http://www.unc.edu/awmc/pleiades/data/stoagnd/stoagnd.kml (note: 1.3 MB file).
The original waypoint database (a web application) was announced on the classics-l listserv on 5 October 1999 as follows:
The Stoa electronic publishing consortium would like to announce the availability of the Stoa Waypoint Database (http://www.stoa.org/stoagnd/).
The database is designed to serve as an archive of geographic data (longitude and latitude coordinates) for ancient sites, buildings, objects, geographic features, archaeological excavations, etc. Our goal is to provide a freely accessible source of geographic data that can be used by the widest possible audience. We hope that this data will be useful, for example, in GPS units and GIS software for archaeologists in the field, students working on research projects, and digital map makers, or anyone else engaged in study and research.
All the data in the database may be browsed and searched on the web, and it is also freely available for downloading into a generic comma-delimited text file. As of this writing there are coordinates for over 2000 geographic entities.
In addition we hope to grow the database through contributions of geographic data from students, scholars, or anyone else who is interested. All contributions are welcome. If you would like to contribute geographic data, please refer to the Stoa's Guidelines for Recording and Submitting GPS Waypoints (http://www.stoa.org/guides/gps.shtml) for more information.
For more information about the database please feel free to contact Robert Chavez (rchavez@perseus.tufts.edu) or Ross Scaife (scaife@pop.uky.edu). We welcome all comments, suggestions or questions.
The version received by Elliott contains 2105 separate points, contributed by 3 different individuals: Chavez, Maria Daniels and Julien Courtois. Every attempt has been made to preserve, insofar as possible in KML, all data contained in the original. Coordinates have not been modified or updated in any way. A copy of the database dump is available at http://www.unc.edu/awmc/pleiades/data/stoagnd/stoagnd.zip.