OpenStreetMap and Its Application to Monumental Studies: An Opportunity for Digital Public History? Quantitative Examples and Methodological Reflections

The following essay would like to provide a tool that can become a reference standard in the field of monumental studies. At a time when there is an increased attention of both historiography and public debate to the subject of monuments and place names, it is considered appropriate to try to reflec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inUmanistica Digitale no. 18; pp. 175 - 209
Main Author Camilla Zucchi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published University of Bologna 01.01.2025
Subjects
digital public history
geoweb
monumental studies
neogeography
openstreetmap
spatial history
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ISSN2532-8816
DOI10.6092/issn.2532-8816/20162

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Summary:The following essay would like to provide a tool that can become a reference standard in the field of monumental studies. At a time when there is an increased attention of both historiography and public debate to the subject of monuments and place names, it is considered appropriate to try to reflect about a replicable method of extracting easy-to-understand data. To this purpose, the study and use of OpenStreetMap, as a collaborative mapping project with more than 11 million active users, and Overpass, a web API from which it is possible to obtain data entered by contributors, prove useful, if not indispensable. It is precisely Overpass that provides digital historians with the possibility of entering, extracting and analysing data according to the tags of interest and the area under investigation, in the most suitable format. In order to promote its use and give some examples, some guidelines will be described and put into practice.
ISSN:2532-8816
DOI:10.6092/issn.2532-8816/20162