5.10. Database structure and 1:M labeling

A basic challenge to organizational structure in GIS is database normalization. As per the first and second normal forms in database structure (Codd 1970), One to Many (1:M) table relationships should be used to eliminate redundancy in tabular data. The 1:M relationship is common-place in archaeological research because it is often very efficient to map many artifacts to geographical features represented as a single point or polygon. Managing data that are distributed through 1:M relates brings added complexity, however, both in locating particular references to data, and in graphical representation. Current capabilities of GIS are limited in the representation of data accessible through a 1:M relate, symbolically or through labeling, and most require a restructuring (make-table query) of the data for each mapping effort.