URBAN PLACES AND SPACES FROM POINT OF VIEW OF THE THREE DIFFERENT METHODS USING OLD MAPS AND PLANS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE URBAN SPACE IN THE LIBEREC TOWN)

Abstract

The method of the present study is to discuss, improve and apply methods from cartography on the basis of old maps and plans while using approaches of geography and history for the analysis of the selected place in spatial and temporal contexts. Old maps and plans of Liberec are thus a source of information for the characterisation of the state and spatial changes of the defined urban space in time. Result of the work is the implementation of case studies on the geographical concept of place in a particular topographical situation of the chosen urban space in Liberec. Lists of maps were made; historical and archive sources were taken into account, the methodology of using old maps and plans was discussed. These, along with inventory research, are the values which were added to by the work of the greater involvement of geoinformation technologies, especially for spatial, network and other analyses, including the use of remote sensing images. Graphic visualisation of data using GIS tools is also important. Old maps and plans (Liberec city) are integrating bearers of information about the area being studied, which becomes a place or group of places in the analysis conducted. Maps and plans of scales larger than 1:200 000 are classified as topographic maps. Topography is their explicit attribute. Another important attribute is ability to conserve the reality of specific places in time. By adding the study of archive and historical sources, it is possible to outline a concept of interdisciplinary approach to the geography of place in spatial and temporal contexts. The concept of the work can be divided into four thematic areas: - old maps and plans in the interdisciplinary geographic research of urban places described using old maps confronted and supplemented with information from historical materials and historical studies - GIS analysis - comparison and complementarity of three research approaches – reading maps, use of secondary historical source, GIS analyses