A digital gateway opening up Oxford's archaeological heritage has been launched by Oxford City Council and English Heritage.

The project, launched on December 10, is the culmination of more than 10 years' work and brings together archaeological information about the city in a single database.

The Oxford Urban Archaeological Database was commissioned by the city council and paid for by a £110,000 grant from English Heritage.

The database, compiled by Oxford Archaeology, includes information from historic maps, books, local archives, national archives, museums and libraries.

The information is presented in the form of an interactive map, known as a geographical information system, and it is hoped that in the longer term it will become a teaching and museum resource.

The database will be available to planners and developers for use early next year.

English Heritage's head of urban archaeology, Roger Thomas, said: "A rich history of archaeological research dates backs over 100 years, but until today, the results of all this work have been scattered and sometimes inaccessible."

The council's archaeologist, Brian Durham, added: "The city had up to three centuries of growth before the first evidence of medieval scholars.

"Much of this early story is only known from skilled interpretation of archaeological deposits in the ground."