Itiner-e

[First posted in AWOL 28 May 2018, updated  28 April 2021 (new URLs)]

Itiner-e

What?

• A resource development project that will confront a unique challenge in the gazetteer eco-system: a gazetteer of historical roads to support the creation of linked open road datasets.
• The alignment process will be done not just by places conceptualised as dots, but through unique roads or road segments connecting sets of places.
• Linking with other Pleiades-linked resources will be enabled based on the places associated with each road (segment) URI.
• This project is a proof-of-concept to allow implementing the proposed methodology to the full spectrum of historical road networks by a community of users.
• The method will be tested by adding a new data resource linked to Pelagios: the most up-to-date and accurate digital dataset of Roman roads in the Iberian Peninsula.

How? – Innovation

• Change of perspective: in this gazetteer the roads become nodes and the places become edges.
• URIs will identify routes documented in historical sources. Within each element, relevant information will be stored: places, chronology, bibliography, images…

Impact?

• Enhance the currently limited aggregation and openness of digitised information about historical routes.
• Support all future research on historical roads by providing the first platform with unique references to road (segments).
• Establish a focal point for the community of those interested in historic roads, enabling discussion, adding roads and sources, and correcting them.
• These resources will facilitate future historic road data collection and improve the accuracy of existing road datasets.