Q. Name of project
Geografia històrica de Catalunya (ss. XIX-XX): fronteres y paisatges.
Q: Name of project IN ENGLISH:
The Historical Geography of Catalonia (XIX-XXth centuries): boundaries and landscapes.
Q: Principal researcher(s):
Jesús Burgueño, Mercè Gras, Ignacio Muro, Francesc Nadal, Luís Urteaga. Coordinator: Jordi Martí-Henneberg.
Q. Who can/should be contacted now, and how?
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Name: |
Jordi Martí-Henneberg (Professor of Human Geography) |
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Postal Address: |
Departament de Geografia i Sociologia. Universitat de Lleida. Plaça Víctor Siurana,1 25.003 LLEIDA (Spain) |
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E-mail Address: |
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Web site: |
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Q. When did research begin?
In 1996 for the study of boundaries.
Q: Is the project still in existence? If it has ended, when did it end? If it still exists, when is it expected to end?
Is expected to be ended in 2003.
Q: What institution(s) was/is the project based in?
It is carried out at the Universities of Lleida, Barcelona and Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona).
Q: How many people were/are employed, and for how long?
Nobody has been employed.
Q: How much did the project cost?
Impossible to calculate, because it’s mainly done by teachers.
Q: Who paid for the project?
Nobody. A project has been presented to the Ministry of Research for funding. We wil have an answer by the end of 2000.
Q: If the project is still underway, has all necessary funding tocomplete the project been raised?
No, we haven’t. More funding is needed, basicaly to employ one person for the digitation on GIS.
Q: How easy has it been to raise the money?
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Q: Other than raising the money, what are the biggest problems your project has faced?
The complexity of sources to handle with.
Q: How likely is it that further funding might be raised within your country for a collaborative European project?
That’s we need to really advance on our research. If we become members of this European project, we will have more possibilities to obtain funds in our country.
Q: What geographical area is covered by the project? What is the MODERN legal status of this area?
Catalonia is an autonomous region in Spain.
Q: Does the project aim to: (a) Reconstruct boundaries at a single date (b) Reconstruct boundaries at a series of dates (c) Construct a continuous record of changing boundaries over a period
C: we aim to construct a continuous record of changing boundaries over a period (1800-2000).
In 1800 the total number of municipalities in Catalonia were 2.015, and in 2000 is 946.
Q: What is the earliest date covered by the project?
1800 only for the Ancien Régime boundaries. Other sources are not available since the mid XIXth century.
Q: What is the latest date covered by the project?
2000 for boundariues of the municipalities, because they still changing.
Q: What systems of units are included?
Civil: Municipalities, old administrative units of justice (ecclesiastics, from nobles, royals and others) or and taxation areas, justice regions, districts.
Ecclesiastic: Parishes, bishoprics.
Q: What is the project's final product?
A published paper atlas.
An historical boundary and landscape description atlas.
Q: What other publications has your project produced? In particular, please give details of any publications on your methods, and any publications in other languages?
BURGUEÑO, J. – GRAS, M. (1992): "La formació del mapa municipal contemporani a Catalunya. El cas de la Segarra", Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Geografia, n.33-34.
BURGUEÑO, J. (1996): Geografía política de la España constitucional. La división provincial, Centro de Estudios Constitucionales.
Q: What base map is/was used to record the information? When was it created, and by whom? Is it published or in an archive? Answers here will depend on whether the end-product is on paper or electronic;
National Topographic Map, several editions.
Q: What scale was this base map on?
1:50.000
Q: If the base map was not already in digital form and your project created a digital version, how was this done?
It has been digitised.
Q: If your project constructed a record of boundary CHANGES, what sources of information were used? How was this information gathered?
It is a long job of assembling information from many different archives: ecclesiastic, private and administrative
Q: What other maps besides the base map were used? When were they created, and by whom? What scale were they on? What boundaries did they show? How reliable are they?
Few old maps from the XVIIIth and XIXth century. Several scales. Done by land-surveyors and others mapmakers. Most boundaries are the municipal ones. They are very interesting, but they are scarce.
Q: Did your project make any use of DESCRIPTIONS of boundaries? Who created these? Where are they preserved? What problems did you have converting this information into lines on maps?
These descriptions of boundaries are one of the sources. They were created by the owner of each territory and they are preserved in so many different archives, as mentioned in C4 and C5. A very accurate job is necessary, following the physical descriptions of boundaries and drawing them for the first time.
The questions here depend on the form of the end product:
Q: Please give full publication details (author(s), title, place of publication, date of publication).
Burgueño,J.-Ganau,J.-Llop,C.-Martí,J. Historic Atlas of Lleida , Diputació de Lleida (under publication).
Q: What scale(s) are the published maps on?
In so many different scales because it is a long compilation of ancien maps.
Q: What boundaries do they show? (i.e. what geographical units)
Lleida as a provincia (district), Justice administrations, comarcas (smaller districts) and municipalities; as well as the ecclesiastical boundaries.
Q: Do they try to show boundary changes over time? If yes, HOW do they show changing boundaries?
Just for municipalities. These changes are showed:
In a Map with a classification of municipalities depending on the period they were made and to what extend.
In a CD, each boundary should be associated with a period of validity to make possible to travel over time in a map that changes automatically.
Q: What software was used?
We have been working with Freehand. All this information has to be transfered by digitation to Arcview 3.1.
Q: What were your reasons for your choice of software? If you started again now, would you use the same software?
Freehand is useful when changes have to be incorporated very often. The same if an easier one is not available. The problem with ArcView is that all the job has to be done in the same PC.
Q: Describe the data files making up the final system:
Not done.
Q: More generally, whatever the resource your project has actually created, and in the light of your experience with the project, what form of output SHOULD a new project have?
We should produce two kinds of CD: a detailed one for specialists, and a more general one for schools and students.
Q. What place-names are built-in to your mapping? Is each point/area (node/polygon) labelled with a single name, or is there some system for linking to different versions of names?
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Q: Does the history/linguistic geography of your area raise special problems with naming places?
Some problems arise with catalan/spanish versions of names. Changes of names over time.
Q: What sources have you used to research place- and area-names for use in your system?
"Nomenclators", from 1858 every ten years. And Geographical dictionnaries.
Q: Are there any quite separate projects concerned with the history of place names or of administrative hierarchies in your area? If so, please give details? Are they using computers? Are they aiming to make their results available on-line?
No, it doesn’t exist.
Q: Was the GIS/digital resource constructed for use by its creators ONLY, or was it intended for wider use?
For wider use.
Q: Are you willing to make it available for use by others?
Yes, certainly.
Q: Are you willing to make it available for free, or for distribution costs only? If not, what plans have you for commercial distribution?
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Q: Is the resource available NOW?
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Q: Are there any limitations on access?
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Q: What file format or file formats is the resource available in?
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Q: What plans are there for updating the data files to include the results of more recent historical research?
No plans yet, but we are open to include recent research.
Q: Do you own all intellectual property rights in the resource created by your project? If not, what other rights exist, and who do they belong to? What limitations have they imposed?
We have all property rights.
Q: How have Intellectual Property Rights issues limited your project?
Not at all.
© Jordi Martí Henneberg (Lleida, May 2000)