Placing History: How Maps, Spatial Data, and GIS Are Changing Historical Scholarship [Paperback]

Amy Hillier (Editor), Anne Kelly Knowles (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1589480139 | ISBN-13: 978-1589480131

In the last decade, historical GIS has emerged as a promising new methodology for studying the past. Historical GIS is the use of geographic information systems software and allied geospatial methods for historical research and teaching. Placing History: How Maps, Spatial Data, and GIS Are Changing Historical Scholarship offers case studies and essays on key issues involving historical GIS, highlighting the unprecedented range of tools to visualize historical information in a geographical context. Quantitative social science historians are embracing GIS to facilitate the mapping of large datasets, but anyone with access to the software and the skills to use it can include mapping in research. This change is little short of revolutionary considering how few scholars or students made maps even ten years ago. Historical maps are suddenly in great demand as digitally modified, georeferenced images that enable researchers to study GIS as a visual medium of communication and analysis.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anne Kelly Knowles is lecturer in geography at the Institute of Earth Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and is a member of the editorial advisory board for "Historical Geography,"

Product Details

• Paperback: 313 pages
• Publisher: ESRI Press (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589480139
• ISBN-13: 978-1589480131
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Cartography

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars conference in a book, April 4, 2008

By 

Warren G "saywhat" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Placing History: How Maps, Spatial Data, and GIS Are Changing Historical Scholarship (Paperback)

This book wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be, but I still enjoyed it. As is explained in the introduction of the book, a lot of the sections, as well as the presentations on the included data disc, are the result of a conference dealing with using GIS in historical research. The book is well written, with each contributor taking care to present each topic in an objective light. The book is better read a section at a time, as trying to read it straight through can get very overwhelming, due to so much information being presented.

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent set of examples on how GIS interpretations and usage affects history., May 8, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Placing History: How Maps, Spatial Data, and GIS Are Changing Historical Scholarship (Paperback)

PLACING HISTORY: HOW MAPS, SPATIAL DATA AND GIS ARE CHANGING HISTORICAL SCHOLARSHIP challenges historians and historical geographers to use information science wisely, as it vastly affects historical scholarship and historical revision processes. College-level holdings strong in GIS analysis, use, and historical analysis alike will find PLACING HISTORY an invaluable link between cartography, geographic assessment and history. Case studies and regional analysis blend in an excellent set of examples on how GIS interpretations and usage affects history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch