The paper discusses the problem of diachronic criteria of identity for historic localities. We argue that such criteria are needed not just for the sake of ontological clarity but also are indispensable for database management and maintenance. Our survey of the current research in database management and engineering ontology literature found no satisfactory candidates thereof. Therefore we attempt to search for such criteria in the historic-geographical scholarship by exposing the ontological assumptions the researchers made there and by stating them explicitly. This attempt consisted of us presenting a number of brief scenarios taken from the historical studies whereby localities are claimed to maintain their identity through certain types of change or to be destroyed due to other types of change. Generalising these cases we provide a tentative formulation of the criterion and discuss its limitations.
The present article 1 discusses difficulties in the practical application of spatio-temporal databases to geographical-historical research. Apart from undeniable assets of introducing database tools to historical studies, research practice implies also quite significant difficulties related to the unreliability, incompleteness or imprecision of historical information. These features, along with the subjectivism of historical inferential methods (their susceptibility to interpretation), should be taken into consideration when creating Historical Geographical Information Systems (HGIS). Thus assembled, historical information becomes easily accessible for secondary interpretation (source scheme). The critical scheme of any database, created jointly by historians, engineering ontologists, and data modelling specialists, should account for both the 'expediency' and 'processuality' of historical phenomena, as well as the complex nature of spatio-temporal objects (the ongoing dispute between endurantists and perdurantists).
The aim of the paper is to propose a data model for editing historical records using the example of Karol Perthées’ works from the late 18th century. These consist of cartographic sketches, elaborated on the basis of parochial questionnaires and the maps of palatinates of the Crown, which are at a scale of 1:225,000. The model links the advantages of direct source data representation with scalability and flexibility features, which provide analytical possibilities. The sketches are indexed using the INDXR application and the structure of the model reflects the structure of the source. The maps were analyzed in a GIS environment, but no georeferencing was performed. The data collected separately as symbols and annotations were treated independently and were linked via features. The model is illustrated by a preliminary study of materials covering the area of the Zemborzyce parish near Lublin.
instytucjonalnego badań o charakterze geografi czno-historycznym. Najważniejsze w tym kontekście jest odniesienie do utrwalonych już dyscyplin naukowych: geografi i i historii.Cytowani wyżej autorzy, uwzględniając bogaty i różnorodny dorobek nauki europejskiej na tym polu, wyraźnie poszukują pewnej tożsamości ontologicznej (właściwości konstytutywnych) pojęcia "geografi a historyczna". A. Baker pisze: "Far from suggesting that the scope and purpose of historical geography should be narrowed, I argue that it should be enlarged. It is not my intention to refi ne a purist defi nition of historical geography as a discipline or sub-discipline. I will instead argue the merits of historical geography as an interdisciplinary project, off ering a number of distinctive perspectives upon peoples, places and periods in the past" 6 .Inni autorzy używają zbliżonych pojęć: "En eff et, face aux courants qui l'ont fait voir comme une sous-discipline, et à ceux qui l'ont vue comme une science autonome, plus géographique qu'historique, s'impose de plus en plus l'idée aujourd'hui d'une inter-discipline appliquée à l'étude de l'espace historique et nourrie des idées, du langage et des methods des deux disciplines" 7 . "Der Gebrauch des Terminus «Historische Geographie» hat damit heute vor allem die
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