Dr. W. Fred Limp

Dr. Fred Limp
University Professor of Geography (Emeritus)

304 JB Hunt
Department of Geosciences
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
 
Phone: (479) 575-6159
FAX: (479) 575-3469
Degrees Ph.D. Indiana University, Anthropology, 1983
  M.A. Indiana University, Anthropology, 1977
  B.A. Indiana University, Anthropology, 1973
Academic Interests
Limp has research interests in two broad areas: geoinformatics and archaeolgy and heritage preservation
 
Geoinformatics
In the area of geoinformatics Limp was a founder and served on the Board of the Open Geospatial Consortium, as well as the Intergraph Geospatial Executive's Board, AmericaView, SPOT Image Academic Advisory Board, the National Consortium for Rural Geospatial Innovations Board, Oracle North America Users Forum, Sam M. Walton College of Business Information Technology Research Institute Board, the UA's RFID Center Steering Committee and the OGC Interoperability Institute. He was part of the initial development community around the initial FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) GIS software - GRASS - in the mid-80s and early 90s. He served as an instructor on the GRASS software at many locations including Colorado State, Rutgers, NASA and others.  He was appointed by Arkansas Governor Tucker to the Arkansas Mapping and Land Records Modernization Board and by Governor Huckabee to the Arkansas State Land Information Board. He is co-author of two legislative acts implementing geospatial technologies across the state. He has been a leader in the development of on-line education in geoinformatics including a new Arkansas Department of Higher Education approved certificate program. He received the Arkansas GIS Users Forum Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a founding Arkansas Computing Academy Inductee. For his research he received the GAIA Award from the GRASS Community, the Fulbright College Master Researcher Award, and the University of Arkansas Alumni Distinguished Research Award.
Archaeology and heritage preservation
While completing his graduate studies at IU he led the development of an archaeological computer mapping system and the DELOS information systems, one of the first comprehensive data base systems in archaeology. He was involved in a range of excavations and surveys. His dissertation included the development and programming in the late 1970s of what would later be called a "GIS" - which he used to apply location choice analysis to pre-Columbian settlement location. Following the receipt of his doctoral degree in anthropology (with an emphasis in archaeology) at Indiana University he then served as Co-Director for the Center for American Archaeology's Contract Archaeology Program (1978-1979) and as Assistant and Interim Director, Arkansas Archaeological Survey (1979-1990). While he was at the CAA he led the purchase and development of a comprehensive computational program.  He was appointed by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to the Board of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.  He was elected as Treasurer and then as President of the Society of American Archaeology and served on the Board of the Foundation for American Archaeology and the University Consortium for Preservation Technology. In 1989 wrote an early review of satellite based remote sensing in archaeology available. Limp and his associates James Farley, Bob Harris and Jami Lockhart developed one of the first GIS research programs in archaeology in the 1980s and their facilites were used for the analysis of the Hvar project data by Gaffney and Stancic's described in their ground breaking GIS Approaches to Regional Analysis. 
Teaching Interests
Limp taught a range of undergraduate and graduate courses in geoinformatics (see course listing). He also served as the Advisor for the University's Online Certificate of Proficiency in Geospatial Technologies (more information)
Courses
GEOS 3543/5543 Geospatial applications
GEOS 3553/5553 Spatial analysis using ArcGIS
GEOS 3593/5593 Geodatabases
GEOS 4593/5293 Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Global Satellite Navigations Systems (GNSS)
Publications
Limp has written or edited 9 books and more than 100 journal articles and edited chapters. He has published more than 120 articles in national and international professional magazines, served as keynote or plenary session speaker at ten conferences, presented more than 80 professional papers, and organized six professional meetings. 
Selected publications:
Klehm, C., J. C., Cothren, J. D., Green, V., Hill, C., Kasten, M., Limp, W. F., Payne, A., Williamson, M. (2021). Spatial Archaeometry in the Time Of Covid-19: Recent Research From CAST And The SPARC Program At The University Of Arkansas (1st ed., vol. 21). Cambridge: Society for American Archaeology/Cambridge University Press.
Hill, A. C., Limp, F., Casana, J., Laugier, E. J., Williamson, M. 2019 A New Era in Spatial Data Recording: Low-Cost GNSS. Advances in Archaeological Practice, 7(2), 169-177.
Limp, W. 2017 Measuring the Face of the Past and Facing the Measurement. In: Forte M., Campana S. (eds) Digital Methods and Remote Sensing in Archaeology. Quantitative Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Springer, Pgs 349-369.
Limp, W. and M. Williamson 2017 Strategies for International Travel with "High-Tech" Archaeological Field Equipment. Advances in Archaeological Practice 5(4):382-387.
Optiz, R and W. Limp, 2015 Recent Developments in High-Density Survey and Measurement (HDSM) for Archaeology: Implications for Practice and Theory Annual Reviews in Anthropology 44:347-64
Tullis, J.A., J.D. Cothren, X. Shi, W. Limp, R.F. Linck and S.G. Young, (in press - 2015) “Geoprocessing, Workflows, and Provenance.” In P. Thenkabail (editor) Remote Sensing Handbook , Vol. 1, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Kintigh, K, J. Altschul, A. Kinzig, W.  Limp, W. Michener, J. Sabloff, J. Hackett, T. Kohler, B. Ludäscher, and . Lynch 2015 “Cultural Dynamics, Deep Time, and Data Planning Cyberinfrastructure Investments for Archaeology” Advances in Archaeological Practice 3(1)1-15.
K Kintigh, J  Altschul, M Beaudry, R Drennan, A Kinzig, T Kohler, W Limp, H Maschner, W Michener, T Pauketat, P Peregrine, J Sabloff, T Wilkinson, H Wright and M Zeder. 2015. "Grand Challenges for Archaeology." American Antiquity 79(1):5-24
 K Kintigh, J  Altschul, M Beaudry, R Drennan, A Kinzig, T Kohler, W Limp, H Maschner, W Michener, T Pauketat, P Peregrine, J Sabloff, T Wilkinson, H Wright and M Zeder. 2015. "Grand Challenges for Archaeology." Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences 111(3):879-880.
Limp, W., S. Winters and A. Payne. 2015.  “Imagining the Medieval Mississippian Town.” in Pauketat and S. Ault (eds) Medieval Mississippians. SAR Press, Santa Fe
Limp, W and  Adam Barnes. 2014. “Solving the Grid-to-Ground Problem when Using High Precision GNSS in Archaeological Mapping.” Advances in Archaeological Practice. (2)138-143.
Limp, W., A. Payne, S. Winters, A. Barnes and J Cothren. 2013. "Approaching 3D digital heritage data from a multi-technology lifecycle perspective." In F. Contreras, M. Farjas and F. Melero (eds) Proceedings of the 38th Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Granada Spain. BAR International Series 2494. London. Pg 15-22.
Limp, W. 2011. "Web 2.0 and beyond: or On the web nobody knows you're an archaeologist." In E. Kansa, S. Kansa and E. Watrall (eds) Archaeology 2.0 New Approaches to Communication and Collobration. Cotsen Institute Press, Los Angles. pages 265-280 or available digitally here
Limp, W. A Payne, K. Simon, S. Winters and J Cothren.  2011. "Developing a 3-D Digital Heritage Ecosystem: from object to representation and the role of a virtual museum in the 21st century." Internet Archaeology 30http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.30.1.
Limp, W. F. 2010 "Towards a strategy for heritage visualization."  Proceedings, CAA 2009, Making History Interactive. Williamsburg VA.
A. Payne, K. Cole, K. Simon, C. Goodmaster and W. F. Limp.  2010 "Desiging the next generation virtual museum."  Proceedings, CAA 2009, Making History Interactive.Williamsburg VA. Available.
Cothren, J. C.Goodmaster, A. Barnes, E. Ernenwein, A. Vranich, W.F. Limp, A. Payne, 2008 "Fusion of 3-dimensional data at Tiwanaku: An approach to spatial data integration." Proceeding of the 36th (2008) Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, On the Road to Reconstructing the Past. Budapest.
Limp. W. F. 2007 "GIS" in Eiteljorg, H. An introduction to archaeological computing. Center for the Study of Archaeology and Architecture. Bryn Mawr. PA. Available here.
Tullis, J , J.Cothren, D. E. Irwin, C. Yeager, W. F. Limp, J. Wilson, B. Gorham and S Ogle.  "2007 Yearly Extraction of Central America's Land Cover for Carbon Flux Monitoring." GIScience & Remote Sensing, 2007, 44, No. 4, p. 334-355.
Limp, W. F. 2005 "Data curation" in H. Maschner and C. Chippendale (eds.) Handbook of Archaeological Methods. Altamira Press. pp: 1270-1305.
Nigro, J., F. Limp, K. Kvamme, D. Ruiter and L. Berger 2002 "The creation and potential application of a 3-dimensional GIS for the early hominin site of Swartkrans, South Africa." Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology CAA02 Tempus Reparatum Oxford pp 121-133. 
Professional Experience
Leica Geosystems Chair in  Geospatial Imaging (2005-2021)
Director, Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (1991-2009)
University Professor, Departments of Anthropology, GeoScience and Environmental Dynamics Program, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (2004-2021)
University Professor Emeritus, Department of GeoScience and Environmental Dynamics Program, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (2021-present)
Fred Limp was a founder and served on the Board of the Open Geospatial Consortium, as well as the Intergraph Geospatial Executive's Board, AmericaView, SPOT Image Academic Advisory Board, the National Consortium for Rural Geospatial Innovations Board, Oracle North America Users Forum, Sam M. Walton College of Business Information Technology Research Institute Board, the UA's RFID Center Steering Committee and the OGC Interoperability Institute. He was appointed by Governor Tucker to the Arkansas Mapping and Land Records Modernization Board and by Governor Huckabee to the Arkansas State Land Information Board. He is co-author of two legislative acts. He was elected as Treasurer and President of the Society of American Archaeology and served on the Board of the Foundation for American Archaeology and the University Consortium for Preservation Technology. He served as Co-Director for the Center for American Archaeolgy's Contract Archaeology Program 1978-1979 and as Assistant and Interim Director, Arkansas Archaeological Survey 1979-1990.
His research has taken him to six continents.
Limp was a contributing editor for GeoWorld magazine, a contributor to Earth Imaging Journal and writes and lectures extensively on spatial technology issues. Articles on his work have been featured in the popular press including USA Today, Omni, New Scientist, Americas, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Delta Sky, ComputerWorld, eWeek, InformationWeek, Wall Street Journal as well as in National Geographic books, and on US National Public Radio, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and German Public Television.
Honors and Awards
GAIA Award from the GRASS Community,
Wm J Fulbright College Master Researcher Award,
University of Arkansas Alumni Distinguished Research Award,
Appointed by Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to Board of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
University of Arkansas Alumni Distinguished Service Award,
Arkansas GIS Users Forum Lifetime Achievement Award,
Presidential Recognition Award, Society for American Archaeology
Arkansas Computing Academy Inductee.