Identifying and referencing places in historic sources offers new research possibilites. However, his identification is not s simple as it might seem at a first glance. For example, changing administrative structures make a unique identification difficult. Systems providing comprehensive historic administrative information are necessary for a correct and accurate identification. In this talk held at the EHPS-Net Historical GIS workshop in July 2015 in Edinburgh some of the problems associated with the identification of places have been discussed. A few systems providing historic administrative information were presented.

1. Place Identification in Historic Sources
Dr. Jesper Zedlitz
Research Group for Communication Systems
Department of Computer Science
Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel

2. Agenda
• Problem
– Some practical examples
– Settlement vs. administrative unit
• An approach
– „Genealogisches Ortsverzeichnis“
(historic gazetteer)
• Outlook

3. Problem: Place identification
Mühlhausen / Pr. Holland
Where on
earth is

4. Problem: Name Change
1936 address book 1941 address book
It's the same municipality.

5. Problem: Very Small Villages
German WW1 casualty lists page 10181, infantry regiment 347, 12th company

6. Problem: Very Small Villages

7. Observations
• We need ...
– Unique identification of places
– Information about administrative structure
• Sources specify place names.
• What exactly does a place name refer to?
• Example: »… from Schönberg near Kiel«

8. Settlement vs. Adm. Unit
© OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA
Kiel
←

9. Settlement vs. Adm. Unit
Village Schönberg
© OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA

10. Settlement vs. Adm. Unit
Municipality Schönberg
© OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA

11. Settlement vs. Adm. Unit
Parish Schönberg
© OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA

12. An approach:
Genealogisches Ortsverzeichnis (GOV)
Genealogical gazetteer
Historical

13. Web Interface

14. Covered Area
+ USA
+ Canada
+ Australia

15. Data Model
• Separation of settlements and administrative objects
– Example: village ≠ municipality
• We are not the only ones:
– Historic sources
• Gemeindelexikon für das Königreich Preußen 1887
• Ortschafts-Verzeichnis für die Provinz Schleswig-Holstein 1890
settlement municipality

16. Data Model
• Separation of settlements and administrative objects
– Example: village ≠ municipality
• We are not the only ones:
– Historic sources
• Gemeindelexikon für das Königreich Preußen 1887
• Ortschafts-Verzeichnis für die Provinz Schleswig-Holstein 1890
– Modern systems
• Bavarian State Library
• GeoNames
• Wikipedia in Denmark and Poland

17. Unique Id
• Every object has a unique identifier
Town Kiel
http://gov.genealogy.net/KIEIELJO54BI
German federal state Schleswig-Holstein
http://gov.genealogy.net/adm_369010
Church St. Jacobus in Moldenit
http://gov.genealogy.net/object_185414
Lighthouse Bülk
http://gov.genealogy.net/BULURM_W2301

18. Side note: Lighthouse Bülk
Adreßbuch und Geschäfts-Handbuch für Stadt und Kreis Eckernförde 1897

19. Geographic Position
• Example Moldenit:
→ Visualization
54.5436°N 9.6158°O

20. Property: Name
• Multiple languages for one place
• Time specification
ISO-639-2
Barmen-Elberfeld (1929-08-01 - 1930-01-25)
Wuppertal (1930-01-25 -)
Ballum (deu)
Ballum (dan)
Balem (fry)

21. Property: Population
• for example city of Kiel
• also number of households

22. Property: Type
• Hierarchical type system
– for settlements and administrative units
– currently 241 types
• Advantages
– Homonym disambiguation
– Search for similar types
• Type changes are possible
municipality → town
village → deserted site

23. Relations
• A variety of „contained in“ relations
– political
– ecclesiastical
– judicial
• Relations are time-specified
• Multiple relations at the same time allowed

24. Relations
policital adm. ecclesiastical adm.
settlement

25. Relations
policital adm. ecclesiastical adm.
settlement

26. Relations
policital adm. ecclesiastical adm.
settlement

27. Relations
policital adm. ecclesiastical adm.
settlement

28. Relations
policital adm. ecclesiastical adm.
settlement

29. Relations
policital adm. ecclesiastical adm.
settlement

30. Complex Historical Relations

31. Access
• For human users
– Web Interface
• For machines
– SOAP-Webservices
– Linked Open Data

32. Linked Open Data
• Every object is available as Linked Open Data, e. g.
http://gov.genealogy.net/SUCORFJO54AI
• Links to other LOD data sources

33. Linked Open Data
<http://gov.genealogy.net/SUCORFJO54AI>
a gov:GovObject ;
rdfs:isDefinedBy <http://gov.genealogy.net/SUCORFJO54AI/about.rdf> ;
gov:hasPopulation [ a gov:PropertyForObject ;
gov:value "8441" ;
gov:timeBegin "2004-12-31" ;
gov:timeEnd "2004-12-31" ] ;
gov:hasName [ a gov:PropertyName ;
gov:value "Suchsdorf" ;
gov:language "deu" ] ;
gov:hasType [ a gov:PropertyType ;
gov:type type:55 ;
gov:timeEnd "1958" ;
gov:source [ a gov:SourceReference ;
gov:sourceRef <http://gov.genealogy.net/source_387809> ;
gov:note "S. 152" ]
],
[ a gov:PropertyType ; gov:type type:54 ; gov:timeBegin "1958" ] ;
gov:isPartOf
[ a gov:Relation ;
gov:ref <http://gov.genealogy.net/object_386988> ;
gov:timeEnd "1958-03-31" ],
[ a gov:Relation ; gov:ref <http://gov.genealogy.net/KIEIELJO54BI> ;
gov:timeBegin "1958-04-01" ] ,
[ a gov:Relation ;
gov:ref <http://gov.genealogy.net/object_1042608> ],
[ a gov:Relation ;
gov:ref <http://gov.genealogy.net/object_285109> ;
gov:source [a gov:SourceReference ;
gov:sourceRef <http://gov.genealogy.net/source_387809> ;
gov:note "S. 152" ]
] .

34. Outlook
• Below settlement level
– Additional Problem:
streets, street names and
addresses have changed
county
municipality
settlement
house
…

35. Outlook
• Below settlement level
– Additional Problem:
streets, street names and
addresses have changed
Kiel 1917 Kiel 2015

36. Thank you for your attention.
Questions?