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In the era of interdisciplinary research supported by IT solutions, a special role is played by digital source repositories. The digital turn has contributed to their considerable development, and the application of new technologies has largely changed the current methods of research work. This facilitates pooling and structuring dispersed collecti...
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Context 1
... created metadata fulfill two tasks. Pri marily, they are an element of the map service infrastructure facilitating not only the search for resources based on localization but also exploration and analysis of data (Kuźma & Bauer, 2020). Secondly, the identification information is part of a critical overview of sources (see fig. 7). The descriptive and spatial metadata elements are the outcome of the ongoing re search project aimed at critical analysis and dissemination of unique and dispersed carto graphic sources associated with the Paris Peace Conference. The maps were important during the negotiations of borders as a means of conveying ideas and a tool for ...
Citations
... eu website. The image metadata was linked to a spatial index developed in vector form (Zawadzki, 2021). The polygons covering the photo coverage are defined in the WGS84 (EPSG:4326) global coordinate system. ...
The origins of aerial photography can be traced back to the second half of the 19 th century, and periods of World Wars contributed to the development of techniques for developing and disseminating aerial photographs for military purposes. In the literature, we find descriptions of the Polish Military Geographical Institute’s (WIG) use of aerial photography to update topographic maps of nearly 40% of the country’s area at the time. Unfortunately, the fate of the pre-war collection of photographs is difficult to establish. Given this, the aerial photographs from the period of the Second World War (German and Allied) constitute the oldest possible complete and consistent photographic documentation of Poland. The series of German prints (373-GXPRINTS) collected at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park (NARA, USA) are maintained according to the most liberal policy on access and further use. At the same time, the organisation of the NARA archive and the extent to which the collection has been digitised (over one million images) leave a deficiency, and searching for images requires knowledge, methods and experience.
In 2020–2021, the Department of Geomatics and Cartography of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University implemented the project Development of the Ortophotomap of Lublin 1939–1945 (NCN, Miniatura 4.0. No. 2020/04/X/HS4/00382). The result of the project is a dedicated web portal https://ortolub.umcs.pl , consisting of a digital repository of aerial images, a map application and standardised GIS raster data services. The author believes this is a unique source base, with unprecedented detail. The publication of the project results under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 licence is intended to foster the widest possible use of wartime aerial images in scientific research and popularisation activities.
The process of developing a historical orthophotomap, as presented in the article, is universal and can be repeated on any set of aerial photographs. At the same time, development work is needed to automate the operations as fully as possible. In conclusion, current challenges and prospects for the development of historical orthophotomaps of national coverage are indicated.
The paper discusses the activities involved in the process of creating a digital thematic repository focusing on historical cartographic and textual sources. On the basis of the thematic repository created as part of the project “Shaping the borders of Independent Poland in the light of cartographic documents”, the author presents proposals for solutions aimed at effective management of the various materials, as well as allowing users easy access to specific information. It provides an overview of the issues identified in the context of identifying, selecting, digitising and sharing digital copies of sources of relevance to humanities and social sciences research. With regard to the digitisation of cartographic sources, the article examines the challenges of adapting the technology to meet the diverse needs of information retrieval. In addition, it addresses issues related to the development of metadata and the integration of different types of sources. The article also addresses issues related to maintaining and updating the digital repository, with a particular focus on ensuring the sustainability of the project. The conclusions of the completed project allow us to identify best practices in the process of creating and managing a digital thematic repository, which can be a valuable tool for researchers, students, and cultural heritage institutions.
The inspiration to write "Shaping Poland’s borders after the First World War. Methodological problems of creating digital cartographic repositories" came from the very thoughts that emerged during the work on a thematic digital repository of copies of maps and written documentation relevant to understanding the map’s content found during the queries. The repository brings together dispersed cartographic sources with their critical processing. The results are made available via a web application. The main issues covered in this publication are methodological problems related to the collected map resource, viz., its characteristics and attempts to organise it, from the point of view of presenting
it in a thematic repository, as well as methodological and technological problems
leading to the creation of the repository itself. While many of the methodological
problems encountered, mainly related to cartographic content, were successfully
solved by the authors, general matters, resulting, among other things, from the lack of nomenclatural consistency in the literature on IT solutions, remain for further discussion.
ABSTRACT: In the history of Polish cartography, it is possible to indicate moments that, under external influences, usually created by the social-political situation, there was a significant increase in the number of map creators and publishers. This was not a long-lasting state, as the authors trying to influence particular events were not connected with cartography in the long term, and publishers extended their offers with maps exclusively for the needs of the moment. One such moment was the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The aim of the article is to characterize the maps issued at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century with the idea of shaping knowledge of the masses regarding former Polish lands, stored in the National Archives in Krakow. It presents the thesis that thematic maps, with content outside the official line of social thinking imposed by the partitioning powers, led to a better understanding by inhabitants of former Polish lands of the idea and process of shaping the Polish state. Attempting to confirm this thesis, reference is made to the fact that a map as a form of visual communication depicts the geographical range and spatial relations on one hand, while on the other it helps to maintain a feeling of national identity when presenting borders and regions, which a given society identifies with,
is impossible or inconclusive. The article uses sources from the cartographic collection systematically gathered by the National Archives in Krakow.
ABSTRAKT: W historii polskiej kartografii można wskazać momenty, kiedy pod wpły-wem zewnętrznego impulsu, zazwyczaj wywołanego sytuacją społeczno-polityczną, zna-cząco rosła liczba twórców map i ich wydawców. Nie był to stan długotrwały, epizodyczni autorzy próbujący wpłynąć na konkretne wydarzenie nie wiązali się długofalowo z karto-graficzną formą przekazu, a oficyny poszerzały swoją ofertę o mapy wyłącznie z potrzeby chwili. Jednym z takich momentów był przełom XIX i XX w. Celem artykułu jest scharakteryzowanie map wydanych z myślą o kształtowaniu wiedzy o dawnych ziemiach polskich masowego odbiorcy z tych terenów w końcu XIX i na po-czątku XX w. przechowywanych w Archiwum Narodowym w Krakowie. Postawiono tezę, że mapy tematyczne, których treść wychodziła poza oficjalny, narzucony przez zaborców schemat myślenia społecznego, wpływały na lepsze rozumienie przez mieszkańców daw-nych ziem polskich idei i procesu kształtowania polskiej państwowości. Podejmując próbę potwierdzenia tej tezy, odniesiono się do faktu, że mapa jako jedna z form komunikacji wizualnej z jednej strony obrazuje zasięg geograficzny i relacje przestrzenne, z drugiej pomaga podtrzymać poczucie tożsamości narodowej, kiedy przedstawienie granic i ob-szaru, z którym dana społeczność się identyfikuje, jest niemożliwe lub niejednoznaczne. W artykule wykorzystano źródła kartograficzne pochodzące z kolekcji kartograficznej sys-tematycznie gromadzonej przez Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie.
