A1: Name of project
Digitaler Historischer Atlas von Preußen
A2: Name of project IN ENGLISH
Digital Historical Atlas of Prussia
A3: Principal researcher(s)
Karsten Bremer, Norbert Winnige
A4: Who can/should be contacted now, and how?
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Name: |
Dr. Norbert Winnige |
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Postal Address: |
Forschungsinstitut für die Geschichte Preussens e.V., Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, D-10117 Berlin |
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E-mail Address: |
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Web site: |
A5: When did the research start?
The research started in 1998.
A6: Is the project still in existence? If it has ended, when did it end? If it still exists, when is it expected to end?
The project is still existing, if the federal states of Berlin and Brandenbourg will decide to accept over 1 Mio. DM "Anschubfinanzierung" (start funding) of the Volkswagen-Foundation.
The project is expected to be open ended. It will end if the FGP is shut down.
A7: What institution(s) was/is the project based in?
Forschungsinstitut für die Geschichte Preussens e.V. (FGP), Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, D-10117 Berlin
A8: How many people were/are employed, and for how long? Were these people recruited specially for the project, or were they already employed by the institution(s)?
Karsten Bremer, cartographer, who was recruited for the project.
A9: How much did the project cost?
Until now 25.000 DM (13.000 Euro)
A10: Who paid for the project?
Federal State of Brandenbourg (HSP III)
Gothaer Versicherungen
A11: If the project is still underway, has all necessary funding to complete the project been raised?
Not at all. If the FGP still exists there will be more funding by the FGP, the MPI fuer Geschichte, Goettingen and some private funding, too.
A12: How easy has it been to raise the money?
The first funding was easy.
A13: Other than raising the money, what are the biggest problems your project has faced?
Finding people to cooperate because of the small funding and the uncertain future of the FGP.
A14: How likely is it that further funding might be raised within your country for a collaborative European project?
Good question, should be discussed with other German participants in Florence.
B1: What geographical area is covered by the project? What is the MODERN legal status of this area?
Electorate of Brandenbourg, Kingdom of Prussia. Since 1947 Prussia has no current legal status. The Electorate of Brandenburg was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Prussia as a geographical unit was part of Poland until 1660, since that time the eastern part was a sovereign duchy, the western part furtherhin belongs to Poland. 1806 to 1871, the Kingdom of Prussia was a sovereign state. 1871 to 1934 (1945), Prussia was the main part of the German Empire.
B2: 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
The first approach is to reconstruct boundaries at a series of dates. If there is further funding we want to create a continuous record of changing boundaries.
B3: What is the earliest date covered by the project?
1818, but we want to create base maps for the early modern period to.
B4: What is the latest date covered by the project?
1925
B5: What systems of units are included? [(NB list ALL the types of unit included)
Territorial boundaries of Prussia
provincial boundaries,
governmental districts (Regierungsbezirke)
counties (Kreise)
B6: What is the project's final product? A published paper atlas of historical boundaries; Unpublished paper base maps for use by a specific project; An historic boundary GIS; Other digital resources (please describe)
The aim of the project is to create a series of digitised base maps for Prussia on different levels of scale (i.e. provinces).
(1) These base maps should be used by researchers on Prussian history to produce thematic maps within their projects.
(2) A historical GIS for Prussia shall be developed.
(3) Maps and GIS will be designed for teaching purposes (school, university etc.).
B7: What other publications has your project produced? In particular, please give details of any publications on your methods, and any publications in other languages?
None.
C1: 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.
Internationale Weltkarte (IWK)
C2: What scale was this base map on?
1:1.000.000
C3: If the base map was not already in digital form and your project created a digital version, how was this done?
A manually drawn base map was digitised automatically.
C4: If your project constructed a record of boundary CHANGES, what sources of information were used? How was this information gathered?
All kind of sources, especially gazatteers and archival sources.
C5: 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?
This work was done by Karsten Bremer. The question will be answered later on.
C6: 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?
This work was done by Karsten Bremer. The question will be answered later on.
D21: What software was used? [If you used a commercial GIS package, please give the name of the package, the name of the publisher, and the most recent version used. However, please also give details of any customisation, using macro languages, etc. If you wrote your own software, what tools were used (languages, compilers, libraries)? Please summarise what your programme does, and if possible say how a copy can be obtained.
We are planning to use ArcView and ArcINFO.
D22: If your GIS was specially written for you, or heavily tailored for your project, who was responsible for programming? How can they be contacted?
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D23: What were your reasons for your choice of software? If you started again now, would you use the same software?
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D24:. Describe the data files making up the final system: [Are they a standard GIS file format? If not, where can detailed documentation be found? At present, any GIS containing changing boundaries MUST in some sense be non-standard, as existing GIS software lacks a time dimension.]
We will use DXF as an interchange format, but there are no final decisions.
D25: What map projection is used?
The projection of the IWK (Internationale Weltkarte).
D26: Assess the overall accuracy of your digital mapping.
Yes, within the scale of 1:1.000.000.
D27: From your existing experience, what methodological recommendations do you have for a larger collaborative project?
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D32: 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?
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E1: What place-names are built-in to your mapping? Is each point/area (node/polgon) labelled with a single name, or is there some system for linking to different versions of names?
Points (cities, towns) and areas are labelled. A system for linking different versions of names is provided.
E2: Does the history/linguistic geography of your area raise special problems with naming places? [For example, the history of modern Poland means that many places also have German names.]
Yes, in the eastern parts belonging to Poland, Russia and Lithuania.
E3: What sources have you used to research place- and area-names for use in your system?
Gazetteers, archival sources, maps.
E4: 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?
The project POLYHIST at the ZHSF, Cologne was concerned with changes of county (Kreis) borders in Prussia 1870 to 1939. They created a coding system for all kinds of territorial units. This system will be used in our project. The results haven’t yet been published.
F1: Was the GIS/digital resource constructed for use by its creators ONLY, or was it intended for wider use?
It is intended to be used by all research projects concerning prussian history.
F2: Are you willing to make it available for use by others?
Yes.
F3: Are you willing to make it available for free, or for distribution costs only? If not, what plans have you for commercial distribution?
It is available for free, but we would appreciate some return (geometries, data or money).
F4: Is the resource available NOW? If so, how and from where?
If the FGP still exists, some geometries will be available within the year 2000.
F5: Are there any limitations on access?
No limitations for scientific use.
F6: What file format or file formats is the resource available in?
Still to be decided.
F7: If the resource is available from the researcher/project that created it, what plans are there for distribution after the project ends/the researcher retires?
The project should be run by the FGP.
F8: What plans are there for updating the data files for use with more recent versions of software?
This is a problem we havn’t yet dealt with.
F9: What plans are there for updating the data files to include the results of more recent historical research?
The GIS is designed as a tool for historical research. The results of research shall be entered continously.
F10: 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 own all property rights as we decided not to use digitised maps provided by the federal mapping agencies.
F11: How have Intellectual Property Rights issues limited your project?
Until now there have be no main limitations.
© Norbert Winnige (May 2000)