The Department of Classical Archeology at the University of Vienna is currently investigating settlement processes and material culture in rural areas of the Roman province of Noricum by means of noninvasive survey methods. The aim is to create a new and widely accessible digital data base for different, tangible forms of rural settlement activities in the investigation area. For this purpose, individual settlements in Upper Austria were chosen as representative research areas: the surrounding area of Lauriacum / Enns as the economic hinterland of a legion camp, the hinterland of Ovilavis / Wels as a rural area around a civil-urban center, as well as sites in the Vöckla valley as a representative of the remote periphery.