Geographic Information Systems I: encoding geographic data

Thursday October 12, 2017, 16h00-17h15 British Summer Time

Session 4: Geographic Information Systems I: encoding geographic data

Convenors: Chiara Palladino (Leipzig/Bari) & Tom Elliott (NYU)

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/6WGpnJD0TiM

Outline

• Introduction on GIS and digital mapping
• Geo-encoding techniques and formats
• GIS data tipes: raster, vector, tabular data
• Visualization: overview and tutorial of Antiquity a la Carte and Geocollider
• Some advanced mapping applications.

Seminar readings

• Weiss, C. 2010. Determining Function of Pompeian Sidewalk Features through GIS Analysis, in: Frischer, B., J. Webb Crawford and D. Koller (eds.) Making History Interactive. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA). Proceedings of the 37th International Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States of America, March 22-26 2009. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 363-372. Available: http://proceedings.caaconference.org/files/2009/43_Weiss_CAA2009.pdf
• Poluschny, A.G. 2010. Over the Hills and Far Away? Cost Surface Based Models of Prehistoric Settlement Hinterlands in: Frischer, B., J. Webb Crawford and D. Koller (eds.) Making History Interactive. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA). Proceedings of the 37th International Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States of America, March 22-26 2009. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 313-319. Available: http://proceedings.caaconference.org/files/2009/38_Posluschny_CAA2009.pdf

Required reading on cartography

• Kenneth E. Foote, Shannon Crum, and Natalia Vorotyntseva, "Cartographic Communication", The Geographer's Craft, 1995 (with subsequent revisions). Read the following sections:
  • 1. The Value of Maps
  • 2. Cartography as Communication
  • 3. What Is a Good Map?
  • 4. Basic Elements of Map Composition
  • 5. The Cartographer's Palette: The Semiotics of Cartography
• Kenneth E. Foote and Donald J. Huebner, ‘Error, Accuracy, and Precision’, The Geographer’s Craft, 1995 (with subsequent revisions).

Further readings

• Elton Barker, Leif Isaksen et al. (2013), On using a digital resources for the study of an ancient greek text: the case of Herodotus’ Histories, in Stuart Dunn and Simon Mahony (eds.), _The Digital Classicist 2013. _
• Ryan Horne, Beyond Maps as Images at the Ancient World Mapping Center, ISAW Papers 7.9 (2014).
• Leif Isaksen, Ptolemy's geography and the birth of GIS, DH 2012, Conference presentation
• Stuart Dunn, 'Space as an Artefact: a perspective on "Neogeography" from the Digital Humanities', in Gabriel Bodard et al. (eds.), 'Digital research and the study of Classical Antiquity', Routledge 2010.
• David J. Bodenhamer, John Corrigan, and Trevor M. Harris (eds.), 'The Spatial Humanities: GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship', Indiana University Press 2010.

Other resources

• A scary DH-words vademecum (for complex GIS-related terminology)
• The Ancient World Online: roundup of resources on ancient geography
• A gentle GIS introduction

Exercise

For this exercise, you will have to use a free visualization tool (QGIS, Carto.com, Google My Maps, Leaflet, etc.) to visualize different categories of geographical data. You can use your own dataset or one of the following:

• List of Roman amphitheatres and their locations, compiled by Sebastian Heath. https://github.com/sfsheath/roman-amphitheaters/blob/master/roman-amphitheaters.csv (CSV format)
• Mapping Spartacus: https://pleiades.stoa.org/news/blog/mapping-spartacus (KML format)

Upload the dataset on the chosen tool, and play around with different visualization options. What is the difference between them, and how do they help your understanding of the data? Do they provide new research questions, which you did not think of before?