Identifying and referencing places in historic sources offers new research possibilites. However, his identification is not s simple as it might seem at a first glance. For example, changing administrative structures make a unique identification difficult. Systems providing comprehensive historic administrative information are necessary for a
correct and accurate identification.
In this talk held at the EHPS-Net Historical GIS workshop in July 2015 in Edinburgh some of the problems associated with the identification of places have been discussed. A few systems providing historic administrative information were presented.
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Place Identification in Historic Sources
1. Place Identification in Historic Sources
Dr. Jesper Zedlitz
Research Group for Communication Systems
Department of Computer Science
Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel
2. Agenda
• Problem
– Some practical examples
– Settlement vs. administrative unit
• An approach
– „Genealogisches Ortsverzeichnis“
(historic gazetteer)
• Outlook
7. Observations
• We need ...
– Unique identification of places
– Information about administrative structure
• Sources specify place names.
• What exactly does a place name refer to?
• Example: »… from Schönberg near Kiel«
15. Data Model
• Separation of settlements and administrative objects
– Example: village ≠ municipality
• We are not the only ones:
– Historic sources
• Gemeindelexikon für das Königreich Preußen 1887
• Ortschafts-Verzeichnis für die Provinz Schleswig-Holstein 1890
settlement municipality
16. Data Model
• Separation of settlements and administrative objects
– Example: village ≠ municipality
• We are not the only ones:
– Historic sources
• Gemeindelexikon für das Königreich Preußen 1887
• Ortschafts-Verzeichnis für die Provinz Schleswig-Holstein 1890
– Modern systems
• Bavarian State Library
• GeoNames
• Wikipedia in Denmark and Poland
17. Unique Id
• Every object has a unique identifier
Town Kiel
http://gov.genealogy.net/KIEIELJO54BI
German federal state Schleswig-Holstein
http://gov.genealogy.net/adm_369010
Church St. Jacobus in Moldenit
http://gov.genealogy.net/object_185414
Lighthouse Bülk
http://gov.genealogy.net/BULURM_W2301
18. Side note: Lighthouse Bülk
Adreßbuch und Geschäfts-Handbuch für Stadt und Kreis Eckernförde 1897
20. Property: Name
• Multiple languages for one place
• Time specification
ISO-639-2
Barmen-Elberfeld (1929-08-01 - 1930-01-25)
Wuppertal (1930-01-25 -)
Ballum (deu)
Ballum (dan)
Balem (fry)
22. Property: Type
• Hierarchical type system
– for settlements and administrative units
– currently 241 types
• Advantages
– Homonym disambiguation
– Search for similar types
• Type changes are possible
municipality → town
village → deserted site
23. Relations
• A variety of „contained in“ relations
– political
– ecclesiastical
– judicial
• Relations are time-specified
• Multiple relations at the same time allowed