Download - Place Identification in Historic Sources
Place Identification in Historic Sources
Dr. Jesper ZedlitzResearch Group for Communication SystemsDepartment of Computer ScienceChristian-Albrechts-University in Kiel
Agenda
• Problem– Some practical examples– Settlement vs. administrative unit
• An approach– „Genealogisches Ortsverzeichnis“
(historic gazetteer)
• Outlook
Problem: Very Small Villages
German WW1 casualty lists page 10181, infantry regiment 347, 12th company
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«
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
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
Unique Id
• Every object has a unique identifier
Town Kielhttp://gov.genealogy.net/KIEIELJO54BI
German federal state Schleswig-Holsteinhttp://gov.genealogy.net/adm_369010
Church St. Jacobus in Moldenit http://gov.genealogy.net/object_185414
Lighthouse Bülkhttp://gov.genealogy.net/BULURM_W2301
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)
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
Relations
• A variety of „contained in“ relations– political– ecclesiastical– judicial
• Relations are time-specified
• Multiple relations at the same time allowed
Linked Open Data
• Every object is available as Linked Open Data, e. g.
http://gov.genealogy.net/SUCORFJO54AI
• Links to other LOD data sources
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" ] ] .
Outlook
• Below settlement level– Additional Problem:
streets, street names and addresses have changed
county
municipality
settlement
house
…
Outlook
• Below settlement level– Additional Problem:
streets, street names and addresses have changed
Kiel 1917 Kiel 2015