Gis-facilitated Spatial Narratives: Danish Plantations In Ghana

摘要

The paper examines the implementation and dissemination of spatial narratives within a geographical information system context with specific reference to portable GPS-enabled devices. The overall goal is to establish a framework for the creation of computer assisted 'guided tours' based on the thematically and narrative linking of a set of locations within an area. A spatial narrative that describes the - largely unsuccessful-history of Danish plantations on the Gold Coast (1788-1850) is implemented through the Google Earth client. This client is seen both as a type of media in itself for 'home-based' exploration of sites related to the narrative and as a tool that facilitates the design of spatial narratives before implementation within portable GIS devices. The Google Earth-based visualization of the spatial narrative is created by a Python script that outputs a web-accessible KML format file. The KML-file defines extended functionality for navigating within the narrative as well as additional data layers.