Preliminary Programme

Studies on urban history and historical city landscape virtual reconstruction are more efficient today when using digital technologies. This paper is aimed to virtual reconstruction of Moscow Historical center landscape (16th – 18th cc.). We combine data from numerous local studies on the evolution of the historical urban landscape of the old center of Moscow (Belyi Gorod) and to create its holistic virtual reconstruction. We collected a big data set which characterizes the landscape changes (natural and man-made) of Belyi Gorod at the turn of the Middle Ages and New Time. This city area, initially represented by disparate settlements was transformed first into a single city united by fortress walls and then into a regular New Age city with its natural topography, the parcel of quarters, the typology of property development.
The principal problem which should be resolved in such project concerns possibility to validate the results of virtual reconstruction on the basis of a set of historical sources which includes more than 300 visual and narrative sources. Part of them are archaeological artefacts. We made special software module to resolve the validation procedure. To conduct such research project we need multi-professional team. Our team includes eight scholars, among them: historians, IT-specialists, architect, specialist in urban studies, restorers.
To realize the project aims we used a number of software programs including QGIS, ArchiCAD, Autodesk 3Ds max, SketchUp, Unity3D. The paper includes both visualization of the 3D historical landscape and analytics to explain its evolution.
In recent years, urban history received a new impetus for development based on the application of advanced virtual reality technologies which allow us to deepen understanding of the multidimensional influence of the anthropogenic factor on the evolution of the historical urban landscape on the basis of virtual reality (VR) technology immersing a user in the historical urban environment. (Show less)

Research using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been evolved in the last years. HGIS (Historical GIS) was proved to be useful in the urban history given as example projects such as GIStorical Antwerp or ‘Mapping Edinburgh’s Social History’ by research group with Richard Rodger. The aim of the paper is to present how GIS could be used to explore social history of the 18th century Kraków, the former capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The study is based on cartographic sources from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, when the first cadastral map was made. The database linked to the maps, includes different kind of sources – census, tax records, estates’ sales transaction from municipals books, testaments, “construction police’s books” (Latin: Acta quartualiensium, which contains information about estates’ condition, value etc.), in general both quantitative and qualitative sources. The presentation focuses on methodological problems of GIS application for early modern historical sources, which are often lacking, ambiguous or undetailed. The major issues are how well maps from the end of the century describes the reality from hundred years before and possible ways to overcome scarcity of information. It is necessary to elaborate on evolving geography as vector maps created on the basis of cadastral plan from 1802-1808 (and additional previous, not so accurate plans) do not include changes over time since the beginning of the 18th century. Furthermore, ambiguity of sources, especially lack of fixed numeration in tax records generates uncertainty in linking between written sources and maps. The solutions and assumptions which were made on the way to create whole maps of Krakow' estates and population would be presented. (Show less)