CHNT 22, 2017 iDAI.field 2: A Modern Approach to Distributed Fieldwork Documentation SEBASTIAN CUY, JULIANE WATSON, THOMAS KLEINKE, DANIEL DE OLIVEIRA, PHILIPP GERTH, JULIAN SCHIERENBECK, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Berlin, Germany An archaeological field research database that can be used for different projects poses an advanced technical problem. It does not only have to deal with different needs of a variety of disciplines and methods like excavation and survey but also be usable for architectural or object studies. Therefore, a generic data model is required that can deal with most circumstances while also trying to maintain standardization where possible. Another requirement is the ability to support distributed work and data entry in the field even in places with no internet coverage. This creates the need for a very robust synchronization between the clients and the server. As the use of GIS is still gaining importance in archaeological fieldwork, an additional focus lies on the integration of spatial data and descriptive documentation. This paper presents iDAI.field 2, the field research documentation system currently being developed by the German Archaeological Institute. This solution will be Open Source and relies heavily on web technologies. It makes use of CouchDB/PouchDB for data storage and synchronization. The cross-platform client application is realized with the Electron and Angular frameworks using TypeScript as the main programming language. The client also provides an open interface for import and export. This allows the integration of other fieldwork software like for example QGIS, iDIG and survey2gis into the toolchain. Key words: Database, GIS, documentation, field recording, synchronization. CHNT Reference: Sebastian Cuy et al. 2019. iDAI.field 2: A modern approach to distributed fieldwork documentation. INTRODUCTION It comes as no surprise that archaeological excavations, surveys, building studies and similar projects that require field research produce a large amount of data. Also, different requirements for the terminology and the structure of the recorded data arise in the various archaeological disciplines. Consequently, there has been a strong tendency in the archaeological community to develop project-specific and institutional systems for recording data, which vary substantially with regards to their accessibility and can range from unique databases to handwritten documentation. The resulting heterogeneity of the data produced on the one hand is inevitable and even fruitful for an evolving scientific field. However, it presents a difficult challenge, especially for the sustainable storage and for ensuring availability and comparability of the data in the long-run. This paper introduces iDAI.field 2 – the field research documentation system produced by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). iDAI.field aims to present one solution to these problems by creating a holistic system that all researchers can use to document their fieldwork. It aims to strike a balance between standardization and customizability and provides support for all relevant aspects of the data life cycle. This does not only include the creation of the data – its capturing and processing – but the final steps of publishing and archiving as well. The design of the system also takes different scales of data collection into consideration, from the relative simplicity of one person entering and editing data to the complexities of interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration. The latter point is particularly important, as most projects today are not carried out by a single discipline. Therefore, field research teams are often in different locations, a typical example being a field research team that is split between Authors address: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Podbielskiallee 69-71, 14195 Berlin.