Historical GIS

Ethnic segregation, urban change and the role of G.I.S.

by Niall Cunningham

This is the text of a paper which I delivered at a workshop Laurence Brown and I organised on Ethnic Segregation & GIS at Manchester University on 26th April, 2012.

The purpose of this paper is not to critique in detailed terms alternate perspectives on issues of race, migration and... more The purpose of this paper is not to critique in detailed terms alternate perspectives on issues of race, migration and segregation; rather, it is to explore the potential utility of Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.) technology in helping to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of these issues, specifically in relation to radical change within the built environment. It will argue that challenges exist in attempting to represent ethnic spatial change over time, but that tools are also available to help us deal with some of these problems. In doing so, the paper will focus principally on the Moss Side district of inner-city Manchester, but will also draw initially on parallels with the Northern Ireland capital, Belfast. The objective of this comparative slant is to highlight both the methodological issues and substantive historical lessons that can be drawn from a city which is, in a United Kingdom context, the segregation laboratory par excellence. In conventional wisdom, the demographic experience of Belfast is often presented as exceptional. However, in terms of its experience of issues of slum clearance, comprehensive redevelopment and how these impacted on patterns of ethnic settlement, the city has perhaps much more in common with postindustrial northern British cities than has previously been appreciated.

A new temporal GIS viewer based on the “Tree of Time” data structure

by Vitit Kantabutra

Note that the count of the erroneous intervals (i.e. 124 erroneous intervals) in the CHGIS database I claimed in this paper has not been verified completely. However, I will upload a report file as a separate "paper" on this site that will permit any interested person in verifying the data.

Historical GIS as a Platform for Public Memory at Mammoth Cave National Park

by Katie Algeo

Co-authored with Ann Epperson & Matt Brunt. Won Best Article of 2011 for the International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research.

The Mammoth Cave Historical GIS (MCHGIS) fosters new understandings of a national park landscape as a historic farming... more The Mammoth Cave Historical GIS (MCHGIS) fosters new understandings of a national park landscape as a historic farming community and offers a web-based platform for public memory of pre-park inhabitants. It maps the 1920 manuscript census at the household level over a streaming topographic map and georeferences Civilian Conservation Corps photographs of dwellings for visualization and analysis of the area’s population on the eve of creation of Mammoth Cave National Park. A web interface to the MCHGIS permits broader dissemination of archival holdings. Public participation GIS techniques are adapted to initiate a virtual site of public memory to supplement the history presented by institutionally-held materials with those donated from private holdings.

Mapping the ‘Doctrine of Vicarious Punishment’: Space, Religion and the Belfast ‘Troubles’ of 1920 – 22’

by Niall Cunningham

This is a copy of a paper I plan to deliver at the European Social Science History Conference at Glasgow University on April 14th, 2012.　　The caption on figure 10 shouldn't read decennial change in population, as the inter-censal period was subject to some alteration around this time. It is a DRAFT! I will adjust when I have time。

Between 1920 and 1922, the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland was the location of intense violence between Catholic... more Between 1920 and 1922, the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland was the location of intense violence between Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists arising out of the broader political conflict engulfing the island. Approximately 500 people died within the city as a result of these tensions. There existed marked spatial variation in patterns of fatality during these original ‘Troubles’ which accompanied the creation of the Northern Ireland state. This paper will present findings from research into this period which makes use of Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.) technology to analyse the spatial distribution and impact of political and sectarian deaths in the early years of the 1920s.

Espaço, tempo e preço dos transportes: a utilização da rede ferroviária em finais do século XIX / Time and Price of Transport: The use of the railway network in the late nineteenth century

by Nuno Miguel Lima

Published in Ler História, 61, 2011, pp.38-64
Co-authored with Magda Pinheiro, Joana Paulino

No século XIX, com a construção de canais e a introdução dos caminhos de ferro, a relação entre o espaço e o preço dos... more No século XIX, com a construção de canais e a introdução dos caminhos de ferro, a relação entre o espaço e o preço dos transportes estava em plena mutação. Tal devia criar, segundo os pressupostos liberais, igualdade de condições de acesso ao mercado. Este artigo debruça-se sobre a situação dos transportes em Portugal no fim do século XIX, dispomos de um inquérito às câmaras municipais feito na época. O tratamento deste inquérito é realizado com recurso a Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (SIGs), o que permite apresentar este problema sob uma nova luz.


In the nineteenth century, with the construction of channels and the introduction of railways, the relationship between space and transport costs was changing. This evolution, according to the liberal assumptions, should be at the origin of equal market access conditions. To understand the contribution of railways to the construction of the domestic market, in late nineteenth century Portugal, we have a survey resulting from the answers of the Municipalities. Treatment of this survey is done in this article using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) witch allows us to present the problem under a different light.

Population and Railways in Portugal, 1801-1930

by Nuno Miguel Lima

Published in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XLII (1), 2011, pp.29-52.
Co-authored with Luís Espinha da Silveira, Daniel Alves, Ana Alcântara, Josep Puig

Portuguese historiography has mostly adopted a pessimistic view regarding the contribution of the railways to the... more Portuguese historiography has mostly adopted a pessimistic view regarding the contribution of the railways to the development of country. Yet, railway access helped to increase population concentration and economic development, favoring migration into towns, the growth of pre-existing urban centers, and the emergence of new centers. But railways tended to be more beneficial to regions that were already prosperous and to aggravate the conditions unfavorable to development in areas with greater structural weaknesses.

Caminhos e ferro, população e desigualdades territoriais em Portugal, 1801-1930 / Railways, population and territorial inequality in Portugal, 1801-1930

by Nuno Miguel Lima

Published in Ler História, 61, 2011, pp.7-37
Co-authored with Luís Espinha da Silveira, Daniel Alves, Ana Alcântara, Josep Puig-Farré

A historiografia sobre os caminhos de ferro em Portugal tem analisado o seu impacto no país como um todo, dando pouca... more A historiografia sobre os caminhos de ferro em Portugal tem analisado o seu impacto no país como um todo, dando pouca atenção à sua influência na dinâmica populacional. Este artigo defende que os caminhos de ferro estimularam o crescimento da população nas áreas servidas por esta infraestrutura, contribuíram para o desenvolvimento urbano e incentivaram as migrações internas. Porém, os seus efeitos foram desiguais, pois a ferrovia beneficiou as zonas já prósperas (Norte Atlântico), tendo uma influência negativa em regiões com maiores debilidades estruturais (Norte Interior). Além disso, não foi capaz de atrair uma significativa população migrante.

Historiography on railways in Portugal has mainly analysed their impact on the country as a whole and has paid little attention to their influence on population dynamics. This article argues that railways stimulated population growth in the areas served by this infrastructure that they contributed to urban development and encouraged internal migration. Their effects, however, were not the same in all parts of the country: railways benefited the already prosperous regions (Atlantic North) and had a negative influence in areas with greater structural weaknesses (Inland North). Beyond that it was unable to attract a significant migrant population.

Towards a Mathematical Evaluation of the Significance of the Via Egnatia within the Transport Network of the Historical Region of Macedonia, in: Proceedings “Makedonija niz vekovite”, Skopje [in press]

by Mihailo Popovic

Using the Newly‐created ILE DBMS to Better Represent Temporal and Historical GIS Data

by J. B. (Jack) Owens

* Kantabutra, V., Owens, J. B., Ames, D. P., Burns, C. N., and Stephenson, B. (2010). “Using the Newly-created ILE DBMS to Better Represent Temporal and Historical GIS Data.” Transactions in GIS 14, s1: 39-58; doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9671.2010.01222.x.

This article introduces a type of DBMS called the Intentionally-Linked Entities (ILE) DBMS for use as the basis for... more This article introduces a type of DBMS called the Intentionally-Linked Entities (ILE) DBMS for use as the basis for temporal and historical Geographical Information Systems. ILE represents each entity in a database only once, thereby mostly eliminating
redundancy and fragmentation, two major problems in Relational and other database systems. These advantages of ILE are realized by using relationship objects and pointers to implement all of the relationships among data entities in a native fashion using dynamically-allocated linked data structures. ILE can be considered to be a modern and extended implementation of the E/R data model. ILE also facilitates storage of things that are more faithful to the historical records, such as gazetteer entries of places with imprecisely known or unknown locations. This is difficult in Relational database systems but is a routine task using ILE because ILE is implemented using modern memory allocation techniques. We use the China Historical GIS (CHGIS) and other databases to illustrate the advantages of ILE. This is accomplished by modeling these databases in ILE and comparing them to the existing Relational implementations.

Troubled Geographies: An Historical G.I.S. of Religion, Society and Conflict in Ireland since the Great Famine

by Niall Cunningham

This paper emerged out of a presentation at the August 2008 UK Historical GIS Conference held at the University of Essex. It is shortly to be published alongside a selection of contributions to the conference in A.Y. Geddes & I.N. Gregory (eds.) 'Rethinking Space and Place' (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, Forthcoming).

This paper concerns the work involved in the construction of a Historical Geographical Information System of Irish... more This paper concerns the work involved in the construction of a Historical Geographical Information System of Irish religion and society in the period since the Great Famine of the mid-nineteenth century. The work was funded by a Large Grant from the U.K.'s Arts and Humanities Research Council (A.H.R.C.) entitled 'Troubled Geographies: Two Centuries of Religious Division in Ireland'. The project had two main planks of analysis; the first was a study of long-term change in the religious and socio-economic geographies of the island of Ireland over the last 150 years, the second was to explore how these factors related to the spatial distribition of political deaths during the recent Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1969. This was made possible through access to the Sutton Database of Troubles Deaths, kindly provided by the CAIN service at the University of Ulster.

Mapping indigenous Siberia: Spatial changes and ethnic realities, 1900–2010

by Ivan Sablin

co-authored with Maria Savelyeva, published in Settler Colonial Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, pp. 77–110.

This article discusses spatial changes in the ethnic territories of Native Siberians from the late nineteenth century... more This article discusses spatial changes in the ethnic territories of Native Siberians from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed to model and observe these changes. The GIS also features resource-oriented economic activities, major waterways and railroads. Analysis of the model, textual sources and statistical data made it possible to determine what factors constituted Siberia’s ethnographical pattern of the early twentieth century and led to its changes in the ensuing decades and what impact on the indigenous peoples these changes had. Four special maps showing Siberia in the 1900s–10s, 1930s–40s, 1970s–80s and 2000s–10s were produced from the GIS and are included in the article. The current legal status of the indigenous peoples’ territories was also examined. This article presents an interdisciplinary macroscale case study.

RAILWAYS, REAGIONS AND THE URBAN NETWORK IN THE BALKANS DURING A CENTURY OF POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS 1900 2000

by kaloyan Stanev

Stanev, Kaloyan, Railways, regions and the urban network in the Balkans during a century of political transformations 1900-2000, Etudes Balkaniques, XLVII, 2011, No 1, 5-37

Political instability and regional transformations in the Balkans. Railways, population and socio-economic indicators of uneven regional development: 1880- …

by kaloyan Stanev

Die fünf vorzüglichsten Städte Macedoniens auf Plänen des k. k. Konsuls Wilhelm von Chabert aus dem Jahre 1832. Thetis, Mannheimer Beiträge zur Klassischen Archäologie und Geschichte Griechenlands und Zyperns 18 (2011) 187-196.

by Mihailo Popovic

Die fünf vorzüglichsten Städte Macedoniens auf Plänen des k. k. Konsuls Wilhelm von Chabert aus dem Jahre 1832. Thetis, Mannheimer Beiträge zur Klassischen Archäologie und Geschichte Griechenlands und Zyperns 18 (2011) 187-196.

by Mihailo Popovic

Fuzzy Set Theory (or Fuzzy Logic) to Represent the Messy Data of Complex Human (and other) Systems

by J. B. (Jack) Owens

Co-authored with Emery A. Coppola, Jr.

Historians and Human Geographers deal with human systems or subsystems of considerable complexity. This situation... more Historians and Human Geographers deal with human systems or subsystems of considerable complexity. This situation presents a dilemma to those who use computational technologies, which demand a high level of precision to organize, analyze, and visualize information: the more complex the system is, the greater the imprecision of the available data. Historians and geographers often feel that their imprecise, ambiguous, contradictory, messy, largely qualitative information does not “fit” well in the available software categories, and they have trouble discussing the results produced when they work within computational environments because category assignment seems so arbitrary. This dilemma appears dramatically with the use of Geographically-Integrated History (GIH) as a research strategy. In this paper, we introduce fuzzy set theory (or fuzzy logic) as a proven solution for dealing with imprecision in complex systems.

Beyond Parks and Polygons: Historical GIS, National Parks, and Opportunities Bekon Historical Geographers"

by Yolonda Youngs

This is a short essay I wrote for "Past Place" the newsletter of the Historical Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. 

Lottizzazioni nella Padova medievale: tra fonti scritte e GIS analysis.

by Vincenzo Valente

Valente, Boaretto, in A. Chavarria Arnau (a cura di), Padova: architetture medievali. Progetto ARMEP 2007-2010, Mantova, 2011, pp. 179-194.

Spatial and temporal structure of typhoid outbreaks in Washington, DC, 1906 – 1909: evaluating local clustering with the Gi* statistic

by Sarah Hinman

The Atlas of Rural Settlement in England GIS

by Andrew Lowerre

English Heritage Research News 16 (Summer 2011), 32-35