Cartographic data and the Great War: an HGIS for tactical cartography
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Authors
Radunzel, Joel Douglas
Hutchinson, J.M. Shawn
Issue Date
2025-01-28
Type
Journal articles
Language
Keywords
HGIS , military cartography , Great War
Alternative Title
Abstract
Historical military maps produced since the First World War (FWW), an underexplored class of archival document, present attractive targets for historical geographic information systems (HGIS) methods due to the large amount of data they contain and - because such maps were often produced in series - opportunities to combine spatial and temporal analysis. HGIS has become a powerful analytical tool for exploring past events and reconstructing historical landscapes. However, a consistent theme in criticisms of HGIS methods is the high investment in terms of time and labor that researchers must devote to creating spatial databases. One method of overcoming this challenge is for researchers to employ effective design for the spatial databases into which they deposit the data they extract from map documents. This paper uses an exploration of the American Expeditionary Force's (AEF) maps from the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne in 1918 to showcase an enhanced entity relationship (EER) database structure for organizing the data coded into these battle maps. Moreover, this paper highlights three HGIS methods for using analyzing the resultant data that demonstrate the value of the database structure for historical analysis.
Description
Citation
Joel Radunzel and J.M. Shawn Hutchinson, "Cartographic data and the Great War: an HGIS for tactical cartography," International Journal of Cartography (2025): 1-25
Publisher
Taylor & Francis