Anne Kelly Knowles (ed.), Placing History: How Maps, Spatial Data, and GIS Are Changing Historical Scholarship (Redland: ESRI Press, 2008), xx, 313pp with a digital supplement edited by Amy Hillier

摘要

I agree with this book's sub-title but its main title is a little misleading: it provides a luxuriously presented but partial view of the contribution of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to historical research, especially if we take GIS as embracing all computerised systems for organising geographical knowledge, rather than the products of one particular company. It is right that the subtitle prioritises 'maps', then 'spatial data', leaving 'GIS' to bring up the rear, because the main focus is on how GIS software can assist in the interpretation of historical maps. The quality of the case studies presented here, and especially the content of the 'digital supplement' (an accompanying CD) means the book will be an essential purchase to anyone seriously interested in historical GIS, and enormously useful to anyone teaching a course in the field.