Lecture at the International Congress Time in Space. Space analysis challenging historical certainties Pisa 28 June 2019

1. E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
Mapping the Middle Ages
From primary, lacunous, unstandardized, different sources
to dynamic maps
Enrica Salvatori, Paolo Mogorovich

2. ThePAST
notknowable
primary
sources
The history we can read ...
16
This document is
- synthetic
- readable
- subjective
- partial
secondary
sources
We are
here
BUT
we wish to store data
drawing them directly from
the sources (as far as
possible)
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
primary
sources
primary
sources
primary
sources primary
sources
secondary
sources
secondary
sources
secondary
sources

3. A new method ? The history we would like to write ...
16
we are
trying to
stay
here
Access to original documents is a more aseptic
and promising perspective, but:
- it is meaningful only if we have a consistent
set of data, as a single document is a “only
punctual” information in Space/Time
- as a consequence, we must be able to perform
an effective automatic processing, thus
storing (and modifying) informations in a
relatively rigid schema (data model), with
some inevitable forcing
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
primary
sources
secondary
sources
primary
sources
primary
sources
primary
sources primary
sources
secondary
sources
secondary
sources
secondary
sources
ThePAST
notknowable

4. First experiment:
ecclesiastical and religious institutions
in medieval Lunigiana
16E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
•A church is a/an
building
institution
community
name
toponym
•but changing over time
•And what is this?
Really?
When?
A Dioceses

5. Our goal
16
We would like to be able to know:
- Existence Analysis of Cultural Object in Space/Time
- Role Analysis of Cultural Object in Space/Time
- Role modification in Time
- Relations beween Objects
- Computing Areas of Influence
- Visualizing Areas of Influence over Time
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
primary
sources
secondary
sources
primary
sources
primary
sources
primary
sources primary
sources
secondary
sources
secondary
sources
secondary
sources
ThePAST
notknowable

6. Extracting information from a primary source
16
Institutions,
Buildings, Person
primary
source
Who
What
Where
When
Why
Existence, Naming,
Role, Relations
GeoReferencing
Year, Period
This is the role of the historian
Only Buildings coded in the DataBase
Institutions and Person implicitly linked to Buildings
Existence: coded in DB Subject to processing
Naming: coded in the DataBase
Role, Relations : coded in DB Subject to processing
Coded in the DataBase (for Buildings)
Used to create derived geodata
Coded in the DataBase
Requires interpolation
Based on this,
we defined
two main record types:
- The record “Cultural Object” (Who and Where)
- The record “Function” (What and When)
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019

7. Data Model: the record “Cultural Object” or commonly “Object”
Field Description Vincoli
ID Cultural Object Identifier Mandatory
Lotto Reserved for System management
Identificazione
Object Identification String. It has no formal
or rigorous descriptive value, but is used to
identify the Object to avoid duplications
Mandatory
Descrizione Free description of the Object. Used
Raccomande
d
MacroEpocaOrig The presumed epoch of origin Vocabolary
MacroEpocaCar The epoch that best characterizes the Object Vocabolary
Toponimo Historical Toponym
Esistenza
Actual existence of the Object and its
condition
Vocabolary
Comune The district where the Object is
Bibliografia Bibliography
Schedatore Who is filling this form Mandatory
Note Note
Es. Object n.505,
“S.Giuliana di Luni”,
high Middle Ages, in
Porto, no longer
existing, maybe
localizzabile in the
Municipality of
Ortonovo
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
This is only the “attribute part”. The geographic part is an “area” and a “point”
THIS IS NOT
extracted directly
from the source but
extrapolated to
identify the object.

8. Data Model: the record “Function” (often called also “Relation”)
Es: Object n.505, named “S.Giuliana di Luni”, in 998, has the role of “cappella” and is in the
district of Object n.1, named “S.Maria dei Risorti” which has the role “pieve”. This is the
content of the document ... (see Bibliography)
Campo Descrizione Vincoli
ID Identifier of the Object (active for the “function”) Mandatory
Lotto Reserved for System management
Denominazione Name with which the Object ID is mentioned in the document
Data
Date on which the “function” takes place”. May be dd/mm/yyy, only yyy
or Century (eventually fractioned)
TipoData
The date indicates a start-moment, a end-moment or an undefined
moment
Vocabolary
Ruolo Role for ID, as mentioned in the Document
Funzione
Funcion (or Relation) for ID (in general related to IDR) as mentioned in
the document
Vocabolary
IDR Identifier of the Good (passive for the “function”)
DenominazioneR Name with which the Good IDR is mentioned in the document
RuoloR Role for IDR, as mentioned in the Document Vocabolary
Bibliografia Bibliography
Schedatore who is filling this form
Note Note
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019

9. Function/Relation
How the System works
The Cultural Object
GeoData Attributes
Function/Relation
Function/Relation
Function/Relation
Function/Relation
Additional Dynamic Attributes
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
phase 1
phase 2

10. From Time-spot data to continuous information
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80
100
200018001600140012001000800600
Probability
of Existence
Probability
for
a role
A document attests the existence and the role of an Object in the year
1000. (es. S. Jacopo chapel exists)
• Which is the role in the year 1201 ?
• Does the Object exist in the year 977 ?
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019

11. 0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80
100
200018001600140012001000800600
From Time-spot data to continuous information
Probability
of Existence
Probability
for
a role
4 documents ( 2 with “year-date”, 2 with “century-date” ) for an
existing Object (es. XI, S. Jacopo chapel exists and in 1600 Nicholas
is its massarius)
The role is always the same
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019

12. 0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80
100
200018001600140012001000800600
Probability
of Existence
Probability
for
a role
From Time-spot data to continuous information
In this case we have 2 documents with “year-date” for a
non-existing Object.
The role is different in the 2 documents (es. XI, S. Jacopo
chapel exists but in 1180 is an hospital)
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019

13. E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
Existence and Role Analysis
Existence (in 1300 d.C.) is mapped using Colors
Name of the Good, Role and Role Probability is textually represented

14. E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
Role Changing Analysis
Changing of Role in the interval 1300 - 1492 is represented through labels

15. E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
Function Analisys
A layer of all the
Functions with a Time
interval (from 1300 to
1492) and a
discrimination parameter.
All the Functions are
displayed with their
direction and a symbology
depending if they are
inside the Time interval,
outside, partially inside o
if they have no data.
The specifications of the
Functions are present in
the Attribute Table, so
that you can analyze,
select and represent them
as you need.
E.G. you can represent
only the Function involving
one (or more) specific
Object.

16. Not only Maps
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
The result of a geographic process is non necessarily a map.
“Given a Object with a role (e.g.
Chiesa) at which distance
(minimum, maximum, average) I
can find an Object with another
role (e.g. Convento) ? And
inverting the roles ?
“Select an Object; which
other Objects of a
certain type (e.g.
cappella, chiesa, pieve)
are within a perimeter?

17. Not only Maps
E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
The result of a geographic process is non necessarily a map.
“For each Object belonging to a class (e.g. Conventi and Ospedali)
which is the distance of the nearest Object of the same class ?”
Some statistic about that?

18. E.Salvatori, P.Mogorovich - Mapping the Middle Ages – Time in Space – Pisa - 2019
Thank you for your attention
paolo.mogorovich@isti.cnr.it
enrica.salvatori@unipi.it