Retromapping: conceptual outline of a novel method for visualizing and exploring urban spatial evolution in the digital environment

Maps have long been used for visualizing and studying urban spatial information. For the early phases of urban development in most cities, however, there are usually few maps due to the high cost of map making. These temporarily widely spaced early city maps document the evolution of cities as a series of “slides” frozen at particular points in time and provide no information on the smaller-scale, gradual changes that had occurred over time and had ultimately produced the spatial configurations we see on historic maps. This shortcoming severely limits the utility of historic city maps as information sources both for the visual documentation and for the investigation of early urban spatial history. This thesis introduces a novel method and conceptual framework for visualizing and querying information on early modern urban evolution in the United States using an alternative form of mapping in the digital environment, which corrects this shortcoming and substantially enhances access to information on urban spatial history. The thesis demonstrates the practical application of the new method using the early history of the City of Urbana, Illinois as working model.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Library and Information Science

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Matkovszki, Ilona

Contributors dc:contributor

• Williams, Kate
• Smith, Linda

• Digital humanities
• Urban spatial history

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 Ilona Matkovszki

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95625

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/95625