Before our last lab session, I had zero experience with any kind of mapping software unless you count making maps for dungeons and dragons. I’ve never even used maps in my papers, but that’s because I mainly focus on literary themes or magic. However, I still see its value as a valuable tool for historians to use. It makes sense to map out specific data points. In class, we looked at potatoes in Prince Edward Island in the ’70s, but this kind of software goes beyond that. Tracking population, employment, environmental decay, and a plethora of other crucial historical data points are where GIS thrives. In class, we discussed the role of quantitative data being mapped out and how that can be beneficial for historians. Can we see this kind of software going beyond environmental factors and population?
I suppose what I’m getting at is that maybe there are more applications for this than we thought. I can imagine using it to map out the provenance of manuscripts, to trace where themes in texts pop up and how they move around. Even magic could be tracked through court records and mapped out to pinpoint areas that show increased employment of cunning folk. So why aren’t medieval and antiquity historians using this more often? Perhaps they are, but I’m missing out on it. I can see mapping out border patrols in the Roman empire and showing its progression over time as the empire changed drastically as crucial to the study of the dissolution of Rome. I’ve had classes discuss military operations in Rome, but a visual certainly would have helped my understanding. The Battle of the Milvian Bridge, for example, was a conflict I never understood in regards to how it played out. I know it from the point of Constantines’ life and how that influenced the growth of Christianity. But what was the battle plan? How were the armies set up? I was never shown these points, and I think this kind of software would be fruitful.
As for my experience in the lab the other day, technology doesn’t always want to agree with us, does it? While I had my hiccups while trying to work, I still understood how the software worked. It extrapolated data sets and integrated them into the map designing software. It was really cool! Sure I don’t know the coding behind it and how all that works, but still, I think it’s a unique tool for historians to use. It kind of makes me wonder what other software historians could be used to explore history. I know of a couple of projects using sound design to mimic crowds in the Circus Maximus or bustling streets. It’s exciting to see where technology can make history.
I look forward to seeing how historians utilize it in the future.

Now please enjoy a visual representation of my struggles with the GIS software in the lab!

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