Abstract The increasing degradation of archaeological evidence in the circumvesuvian area requires a suitable and exhaustive census of all the archaeological features of the area that are accessible now or that have come to light at some time in the past. The high population density of the area demands a conservation policy based on appropriately planned prevention, rather than on occasional intervention with the criterion of ‘saving what can be saved’. Here we present a geographical information system (GIS) of the archaeological data in their territorial environment for the circumvesuvian area, with the aim of providing a useful tool for archaeological feature management. The database includes the following: (1) Current information on the circumvesuvian area (18 council districts with a total area coverage of about 250 km 2 ). The database consists mainly of vector data at the original scale of 1: 5000 (although raster images are also included), and it is updated to the period 1988 1995, depending on the zone. The digital information includes natural and man-made features: roads, buildings, railways, spot heights, etc. (2) Archaeological sites. The ‘objects’ are organized in three main ‘layers': areas with building constraints, buried elements (of uncertain and certain location), visible constructions (e.g. aqueduct, amphitheatre, honorary arch, forum, harbour structures, theatre, temple, roads, villas, etc.). The census is at present under development. To date, about 300 structures have been included in the GIS in the area of interest.