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The database phase of the intensive urban survey of Bristol was completed in 1997. This followed the original data structure defined in a pilot project, which distinguished between objective records (eg archaeological, photographic, documentary), and subsequent interpretation. The data was mapped using GIS, together with the Ordnance Survey 1:500 maps dating to the early 1880s. Relevant archival material was located and collated, and it was also necessary to undertake limited additional mapping (administrative boundaries and Scheduled Ancient Monuments).
The main sources consulted fall into four principle categories: archaeological, cartographic, visual, and documentary. A list was compiled of all archaeological interventions in Bristol, and this was used as a guide for data collection, supplemented by additional archival and interpretative material where available. The resultant database now represents the only accessible information for some unpublished interventions. Cartographic sources are extremely important for the study of Bristol's archaeology, and there are several historic maps dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, although their accuracy is questionable. James Millerd's map (of 1673) provides the first reliable depiction of Bristol and has been analysed for the database, and other later surveys are also held in digital form. Other nineteenth-century maps will be analysed and digitised in the future, as they provide the best sources for the pattern of nineteenth-century industry. The database was intended primarily to catalogue archaeological information, but it is impossible to ignore the rich archival sources for the medieval city, and information derived from deeds and other sources for properties which can be accurately located have also been incorporated in the database. There is also a rich visual record of the city's topography, including many drawings and watercolours dating from the eighteenth century onwards, including c1,500 very detailed watercolours of buildings and features in the historic core of the city, supplemented by notes, produced for illustrated edition of William Barrett's History and Antiquities of Bristol, and John Collinson's History of Somerset, although ultimately these were never used. Archaeological site plans and landscape surveys were also digitised during the course of the project.
Over 1,000 separate records which contain information on the history and condition of each monument, have been created during the course of work, and the database represents a comprehensive audit of over 3,109 archaeological interventions which have occurred in central Bristol.