Persistence of Identity in Historical Gazetteers
Merrick Lex Berman - CHGIS, Center for Geographic Analysis
temporal issues
spatial issuesidentity
placename issues
type issues{
index of records defining tangible or abstract geographic features that can be NAMED
> one or more names
> feature types / classes
> locations / footprints
> unique identifier
> relationships
> time periods
> supplemental information
ideal scenario:
> gazetteer entries serve as georeferences to footprints
> footprints relate to intelligible named features
> intermediary geographic references are persistent
attributes of placenames:
> official names / variants
(Los Angeles / L.A.)
(Köln / Cologne)
> endonyms / exonyms
(London / Londres)
(Beijing / Peking)
(Qomulangma / Everest)
> metonyms (synonyms)
(Chicago / Windy City / Second City)
> vernacular procunciations
(Emei / Omei)
(Peking / pa’k gyan)
> vernacular scripts
( / Beijing)
( / Qomulangma)
DISPLAY NAME > Mount Everest
ALTERNATE NAME > Jomo glangma ALTERNATE NAME > Qomulangma
ALTERNATE NAME > Sagarmatha
maximized gazetteer case:
DISPLAY NAME > Mount Everest [eng] exo
ALTERNATE NAME > Jomo glangma [tib] endo
ALTERNATE NAME > Qomulangma [chi] exo
ALTERNATE NAME > Sagarmatha [san] exo
typical gazetteer case:
desirable gazetteer case:
- persistence -
are we dealing with one entity that changes over time?
or a sequence of discrete historical instances?
Declare all changes to be attributes of one identity
relate unique instances to one another, creating a sequence
unique instances linked into a time series
single identity that transforms over time
attributes of each instance are frozen
attributes can vary independently
placename
feature type
footprint
valid date
source note
digital gazetteer
how to relate placenames to spatial objects?
spatial objects
metadata
spatial objects
GIS layers
what happens when placenames & spatial objects change?
comparison of spatial and temporal relations
taxonomy of spatio-temporal processes
spatial objects change asynchronously
representing spatio-temporal change: points
representing spatio-temporal change: areas
dated instances of placenames may be represented by BOTH polygons = jurisdictional areas points = administrative seats
but areas & seats often change independently from one another!
<
administrative hierarchy = containership
Town A Town B Town C
County X County Y
Prefecture 1 Prefecture 2
Province Z
Germantown (Wicacoa)
updated to
Germantown (Philadelphia)
Town C (County Y)
County Y (Province Z, Nation X)
Germantown begin-1650 end-
Germantown part of Wicacoa
begin-1669 end-1681
part of Philadelphia begin-1682 end-
persistence of identity - as related to - footprint
entry related entry
disambiguation
footprints
functionality of a digital gazetteer
alternate spellings / names
administrative context
temporal sequence
type related type feature type thesaurus
interoperability
differentiating identical placenames
differentiating footprints
coordinate x, y pair in decimal degrees
bounding box
generic grid reference
spatial object in GIS format
stromboli
Stromboli
stromboli, food
Stromboli, volcano
- historical gazetteer records as indirect geographic references -
Carnaby Street, London 1966
Carnaby Street, London 1881
China Historical GIS Projectwebsite: www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis
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