Map Mining – Thematic Maps on East and Southeast Europe as Multimodal Data Sources

• In Event: Mapping Eastern Europe. Geo Information Systems and Georeferenced Maps as Digital Sources for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract

Map Mining – Thematic Maps on East and Southeast Europe as Multimodal Data Sources

Maps contain not only geographic information, they are also an ideal medium for storing and visualizing data on social or economic relations as well as for visually represented arguments. The online portal GeoPortOst provides a research environment for qualitative analysis of georeferenced cartographic material about Eastern and Southeastern Europe linking it to its historical or rather non geographic context. The paper focuses ways how maps synthesize geo data with temporal, statistical, and factual data and discusses how we can extract the different information layers encoded in maps to get access to complex spatiotemporal relationships.

Author

• Hans Bauer, Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (Germany)