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No Place in History – Geo-ICT and Historical Science

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Geospatial Technology and the Role of Location in Science

Part of the book series: GeoJournal Library ((GEJL,volume 96))

Abstract

Geographical information systems (GIS) can be powerful tools for historical science: for presentation, exploration, analysis and reconstruction, as a portal to historical information and to facilitate research. In fact, very limited use has actually been made of them. Where GIS has been used, it has been outside traditional historical departments, in economics, geography or sociology. In general, history departments remain very reluctant to include modern research methods such as GIS in their curricula. As a consequence, there is no place in history.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In its Featured Contents layer, Google Earth (version 4 and later) has a selection from David Rumsey’s collection of digitised historical overlay maps (Rumsey 2006).

  2. 2.

    Starting in 2008, a subscription to the Social Explorer gives access to more data and maps.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6500 HD, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Onno W.A. Boonstra

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  1. Onno W.A. Boonstra
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Spatial Economics, VU University Amsterdam Fac. Economics & Business Admin, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Henk J. Scholten

  2. Geonovum, Barchman Wuytierslaan 10, 3818 LH Amersfoort, The Netherlands

    Rob van de Velde

  3. Dept. History, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Niels van Manen

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Boonstra, O.W. (2009). No Place in History – Geo-ICT and Historical Science. In: Scholten, H.J., van de Velde, R., van Manen, N. (eds) Geospatial Technology and the Role of Location in Science. GeoJournal Library, vol 96. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2620-0_6

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