GIS “Spatial Mobility of the Szlachta under Peter the First” in a Prosopographic Study

Abstract

The article discusses possibilities of geochronological tracking technology for studying the spatial mobility of social groups in Russia in the past. The GIS proposed is necessary to visualize and analyze spatial data in a prosopographic research of about 400 szlachta representatives in Peter’s Epoch. Spatial mobility is understood as the intensity of person's translocation through settlements and his ability to respond to external challenges by moving. The archival materials of the Senate inspection of the szlachta (1721-1723) served the basis for the study and the resource formation. Particular attention is paid to the design of software research tools – the PostgreSQL database and the web GIS based on the latter. It is the first time when geochronological tracking as a geoinformatics method was used to prosopographically study the Russian nobility. The methods of historical source spatial data representation and visualization are implemented in the form of a geodatabase that is publicly available. Two program modules (the GIS among them) grant a wide range of Internet users an access to historical sources text data as well as synchronically visualized data on the szlachta service under Peter the first.  The authors conclude that it is promising to create a special web interface which provides users with flexible text and geodata filtering and analysis. The web project created can be used both for research in the field of social history, historical geography, genealogy and for educational purposes in such courses as “historical computer science” and “digital humanities”.