Towards a graph of ancient world geographical knowledge

Elton Barker (The Open University)

11 March, 2014 | Classics and Ancient History seminar, Exeter

Geographical Applications | AMWC: mapping antiquity topographically

Geographical Applications | Orbis: mapping historical networks

Harley (1989)The object of mapping is to produce a 'correct' relational model of the terrain. Its assumptions are that the objects in the world to be mapped are real and objective, and that they enjoy an existence independent of the cartographer; that their reality can be expressed in mathematical terms; that systematic observation and measurement offer the only route to cartographic truth; and that this truth can be independently verified.

The research context | Counter-cartography, spatial humanities, narrative geographiesHarris, T. M., Bergeron, S. and Rouse, L. J. (2011)Much of the interest in GIS has largely revolved around a (re)discovery of the power of the map. The humanities have long been at risk of treating space, the backdrop to all human behavior and events, as being neutrala spatial vacuuman isotropic backdrop to human affairs. Indeed, a perusal of many maps incorporated in humanities texts would imply that events take place in landscapes seemingly devoid of any terrain, hydrology, infrastructure, human culture, or other geography.

Purves (2010)Plot's spatial legacyis pervasive in ancient Greek thought, where songs might be conceivedas pathways, logoi as routes, writing as the movement of oxen turningback and forth across a field with a plough..., narratives as picturesor landscapes, and plots even as living creatures that take up setareas of space.

How is space mapped discursively in Herodotuss Histories? Hestia (2008-2010, 2013-2014), funded by the AHRCStefan Bouzarovski, Dept. of Geography, University of BirminghamChris Pelling, Christ Church, OxfordLeif Isaksen, Dept. of Archaeology, University of Southampton

Presentation summary | The projectsHow can we extract and visualize spatial data from texts? GAP (2010-2011, 2012-2014), funded by GoogleLeif Isaksen, Dept. of Archaeology, University of SouthamptonKate Byrne, Institute of Informatics, EdinburghEric Kansa, Open Context, UC at BerkeleyNick RabinowitzEnrico Daga, KMi, The Open University

How can we link together the graph of ancient world data? Pelagios (2011, 2011-2012, 2013-2015), funded by JISC, MellonLeif Isaksen, Dept. of Archaeology, University of SouthamptonRainer Simon, Austrian Institute of Technology

But after this (the Persians say), the Greeks were very much to blame; for they invaded Asia before the Persians attacked Europe We of Asia did not deign to notice the seizure of our women; but the Greeks, for the sake of a Lacedaemonian woman, recruited a great armada, came to Asia, and destroyed the power of Priam. Ever since then we have regarded Greeks as our enemies. For the Persians claim Asia for their own, and the foreign peoples that inhabit it; Europe and the Greek people they consider to be separate from them. Herodotus, Histories 1.4

I laugh to see how many have before now drawn maps of the world, not one of them reasonably; for they draw the world as round as if fashioned by compasses, encircled by the Ocean river, and Asia and Europe of a like extent. For myself, I will in a few words indicate the extent of the two, and how each should be drawn.Herodotus, Histories 4.36.2

It was in the reign of Cleomenes that Aristagoras the tyrant of Miletus came to Sparta. When he had an audience with the king, as the Lacedaemonians report, he brought with him a bronze tablet on which the map of all the earth was engraved, and all the sea and all the rivers ( ). Herodotus, Histories 5.49.1.Why is Herodotus good to think with? | Three passages

going through in detail towns of men both small and great alike: for of the places that were once great, most have now become small, while those that were great in my time were small before

( , , , Herodotus 1.5)The problem? | Mapping the Histories

The Source | The Perseus digital text

Immediate outcomes | The Database

Immediate outcomes | Top physical places

GIS | all places

Web technologies | Google Earth

Web technologies | The NarrativeMap

Network Analysis | A Qualitative Typology Definition: place and proxy Unit: clause analysis (SVO) of Histories 5 Quality: movement and/or transformation Variables: focalisation, tense/moodTelling a story and following a path are cognate activities, telling a story is ordering events and actions in space and time it is a form of knowledge making. Diagrams and maps are likewise stories. In science, just as in all knowledge producing traditions, the processes are inherently narratological; they involve the creation of knowledge spaces in which people, practices and places are discursively linked We make our world in the process of moving through and knowing it.Turnbull (2007)

Network Analysis | The Spaghetti monster

Network Analysis | Total book 5Sci2 Team (2009) Science of Science (Sci2) Tool. Indiana University & SciTech Strategieshttp://sci2.cns.iu.edu

Network Analysis | Category 1: Positioning

Network Analysis | Category 4: Mobile Intervention

Automated Networks | Territories in GIS

Automated Networks | Web-browsing Book 5

GAP | The challenge of a million textshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/ozyman/

The concept | There and back again

www.inf.ed.ac.uk/publications/online/1360.pdf

The methodology | Geoparsing

The interface | A Snapshot of the Histories

The interface | The Reading View

The interface | The Place View

*or any other online resource that bears a relation to a particular ancient place!InscriptionsTextsArchaeological FindsMuseum ObjectsArchaeological SitesPelagios | linking together the places of our past through the documents that refer to them

*Data aggregation Federated searchStandard data representationSchema alignment

Connectivity through common references rather than a common schemaWhat Pelagios isnt | One ring to rule them all

The concept | Dont Unify the Model Annotate!*

The outcome | The Pelagios API*Context obtain links to online data that may be relevant to your ownDiscovery users can find your data by following links on other partners sitesReuse the Pelagios API provides machine-readable representations (JSON, RDF) to enable mashups and other forms of 3rd party re-use

Pelagios API in the Wild | awld.js*A JavaScript library for Ancient World Linked Data, developed by Nick Rabinowitz and Sebastian Heath, awld.js adds functionality and visual elements based on links to stable URIs. http://isawnyu.github.com/awld-js/Pop-ups for Pleiades places link to Pelagios references

Visualization Interface | Heat Mapping Annotations

*New periods and areas: incl. Mediaeval, Islamic and Chinese traditionsNew challenges: aligning gazetteers; producing annotations; geoparsing texts and maps; developing user interfacesPelagios phase 3 | Early Geospatial documents (up to 1492)Early Geospatial Documents

Text Annotation Interface | Places in a document (the target)

Map Interface | Places in the gazetteer (the body)

http://hestia.open.ac.uk/http://googleancientplaces.wordpress.com/http://pelagios-project.blogspot.co.uk/

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