Unlocking the Research Potential of Early Modern Dutch Maps

TY - JOUR

T1 - Unlocking the Research Potential of Early Modern Dutch Maps

AU - van Wissen, Leon

AU - Kuruppath, Manjusha

AU - Petram, Lodewijk

PY - 2024/11/19

Y1 - 2024/11/19

N2 - Working from the GLOBALISE project, we have enhanced access to over 5,000 Dutch maps from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, renowned for their geographic and historical significance. We have laid the groundwork for enriching these maps with annotations and metadata following the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) standards, directly linked to their digital representations from the collection-holding institutions. This approach ensures a FAIR framework for sharing research results and fosters collaborative annotation. We enriched the maps with georeferencing annotations and employed automated tools to extract toponyms and geographic features, enabling large-scale analysis. These annotations open new pathways for exploring understudied historical regions, such as early modern Kerala, and assessing Dutch colonial influence globally. By publishing our data early, we aim to encourage further collaborative refinements, allowing a wider scholarly community to improve and build upon this work. This approach highlights the potential of combining historical cartography with computational tools to empower large-scale geographic and historical research.

AB - Working from the GLOBALISE project, we have enhanced access to over 5,000 Dutch maps from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, renowned for their geographic and historical significance. We have laid the groundwork for enriching these maps with annotations and metadata following the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) standards, directly linked to their digital representations from the collection-holding institutions. This approach ensures a FAIR framework for sharing research results and fosters collaborative annotation. We enriched the maps with georeferencing annotations and employed automated tools to extract toponyms and geographic features, enabling large-scale analysis. These annotations open new pathways for exploring understudied historical regions, such as early modern Kerala, and assessing Dutch colonial influence globally. By publishing our data early, we aim to encourage further collaborative refinements, allowing a wider scholarly community to improve and build upon this work. This approach highlights the potential of combining historical cartography with computational tools to empower large-scale geographic and historical research.

KW - Historical Cartography

KW - Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

KW - Spatial Analysis

KW - IIIF Framework

KW - Annotation

KW - Colonial History

U2 - 10.48088/ejg.si.spat.hum.l.wis.12.17

DO - 10.48088/ejg.si.spat.hum.l.wis.12.17

M3 - Article

SN - 1792-1341

SP - s12-s17

JO - European Journal of Geography

JF - European Journal of Geography

ER -