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

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• spatial history
• monumental studies
• neogeography
• geoweb
• digital public history
• openstreetmap