Approaches to Geocoding Historical Data in QGIS 2.0

Requirements:

You should familiarise yourself with the Programming Historian lesson “Installing QGIS 2.0 and Adding Layers” at http://programminghistorian.org/lessons/qgis-layers before attending this workshop. You MUST bring your own laptop and have installed QGIS following the instructions in that lesson.

What:

This 2.5-hour ‘masterclass’ offers a practical workshop in which participants will learn how to ‘geocode’ hundreds of place names in a historical dataset and build a customised map with the results. Geocoding refers to the process of linking tabular data with specific geographical locations, which allows you to map that data, and enables more advanced geographical analysis.

Participants will be provided with historical data to geocode, extracted from the Alumni Oxonienses, containing the place of origin of thousands of Oxford university students in the early modern era. In the workshop these will be geocoded and mapped using publically available maps of English and Welsh historic counties.

Two approaches are introduced: simple table joins between descriptive statistics, and full geocoding using customised gazetteers. It is expected that once you have completed this lesson, you will be able to generalise the skills to prepare your own historical data in the same manner.

The masterclass will be led by Justin Colson, lecturer in Digital History at the University of Essex. He works on late medieval and early modern social and economic history with a focus upon trade, occupations and sociability. As well as using Geographical Information Systems extensively in his own research, he teaches regular training courses in GIS for Historians at the Institute of Historical Research.

The Digital History Masterclass series is a joint initiative of the Digital History Research Centre (DHRC) at the University of Hertfordshire, and of IHR Digital of the Institute of Historical Research.

Schedule:

2-4:30pm: With the help of the workshop facilitator, participants will be working through a tutorial by Justin Colson.

Optional Extra:

Participants are encouraged to attend an optional seminar (5-7pm) at the IHR by Hannah Williams, who will describe her work on ‘Mapping Paris: Artists and their Neighbourhoods in the 18th century’.