Question about map-making

[William Farris]

Hello folks:

       I am in need of some help, if possible.

       I'm working off-and-on on a project I call "the origins of Japan's protoindustries."  It seeks to trace the origins of about 15 commodities, particularly during 1250-1800.  I'm looking at how technology changed, when the various items, such as cotton and silk textiles, sake, tea, copper, iron, lacquerware, fish, ceramics, etc. became marketable goods, how competition and borrowings from outside Japan affected them, and also how geographical dispersion happened.  It's a mammoth task, and I make slow progress. 

     I have succeeded in mapping, in a rough way, how all these protoindustires spread between 1250 and 1800, and I have handmade maps.

    What I need is a virtual map of premodern Japan, perhaps showing provinces, so that I could highlight those provinces or regions where the commodity was made in each period.  Does anyone have any ideas about whether such user-friendly maps exist?  Please advise.

    Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Wayne Farris

[Rebekah Clements]

Dear Professor Farris,

The Harvard Dataverse has a collection of historical Japanese maps and GIS (geographic information system) data that might be useful.

https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/data/japan/

For example, there is the following dataset including historical kuni boudaries by Lex Berman, which you can use as a base layer in GIS software, such as an open source program like QGIS in order to make maps along the lines you are suggesting.

Berman, Lex, 2017, "Japan Tokugawa GIS", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/2CVTR0, Harvard Dataverse, V1

Unfortunately, I would not describe GIS software as "user friendly" but at least there are free tutorials online.

Best wishes,

Rebekah Clements

Rebekah Clements
Professor (ICREA)
Departament de Traducció i d'Interpretació i d'Estudis d'Àsia Oriental
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
https://www.icrea.cat/Web/ScientificStaff/rebekah-e-clements-293897.

--
PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com
For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit www.pmjs.org.
Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PMJS: Listserv" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5TuFmAfC%3D8vXCf0CZgWQDpM%3D%3DxLp4beOFi67Fg80sasug%40mail.gmail.com.

[Philip Brown]

Hi Wayne,

Sounds like a great project.  I don't know of interactive on-line maps, but there may be a fairly easy workaround.

There are many maps of provinces that you can download and edit.  The bigger question is how much detail you need? Do you want to indicate sub-provincial locations, and whether or not you need to have accurate indications of latitude and longitude.  Does representation of elevation matter?

Guessing that you do not need exact coordinates, sub-provincial locations, elevations and such.  If that is the case, one approach might be to download a map image that you like, then import that into an editor such as Photoshop and edit yourself with the tools that it has.

I'm sure that others will have additional ideas.

Good luck,

Phil

--

PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com
For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit www.pmjs.org.
Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PMJS: Listserv" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5TuFmAfC%3D8vXCf0CZgWQDpM%3D%3DxLp4beOFi67Fg80sasug%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Philip C. Brown, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Japanese and East Asian History
College of Arts and Sciences
The Ohio State University
246 Dulles Hall, 230 Annie & John Glenn Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1234
614-292-0904 Office / 614-292-2282 Fax
brow...@osu.edu

[Sonia Favi]

Dear Professor Farris, 

following up on what professor Brown suggested, I was thinking that perhaps a tool like exhibit (https://exhibit.so/) might work for you, if you can find images in IIIF that suit you project (maybe an atlas like Kokugun Zenzu https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/tokugawa/items/1.0167761, or bigger provincial maps, if they can be found online).

GIS would probably be the best solution, but as professor Clements mentioned, it does require some expertise. 

Sounds like a great project, and I am looking forward to reading it. 

Best regards, 

Sonia Favi

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAPEFBu%2B5j5UOFjvP4Ac4Pgwj603p6pxQNe6cpmKZBr5JTFOOVg%40mail.gmail.com.

[William Farris]

Hi folks:

        Thanks for all the ideas!  I'm more of a "trial-and-error" (mostly error) worker with programs online, but you have given me crucial pointers.  If anyone else has any ideas, let me know.

        Here in Cape Town it is after 6 pm and I'll try tomorrow.  You have given me hope.  That means a lot.

With great appreciation,

Wayne

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAPEFBu%2B5j5UOFjvP4Ac4Pgwj603p6pxQNe6cpmKZBr5JTFOOVg%40mail.gmail.com.

[William Farris]

Hello again:

         Much briefer this time:   I am unable to download Photoshop or Affinity Designer.  I need to be able to enter provincial-level information for about EIGHTY maps.  Any ideas?

         My wife and I are going to have a nice dinner and wine and forget computers.

Wayne

On Thu, Mar 11, 2021 at 9:44 AM Philip Brown <hokurik...@gmail.com> wrote:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAPEFBu%2B5j5UOFjvP4Ac4Pgwj603p6pxQNe6cpmKZBr5JTFOOVg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Helen E. Moss]

There is a free Photoshop type program called Gimp you could try. If that doesn't work, I can ask my information designer son.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5TKHXRus%3DzB8bORJDw0hGm_GSJqB86R-39wGtPaMf40pw%40mail.gmail.com.

--

"The problem with incompetent, corrupt, fascist government is incompetence, corruption and fascism,  NOT government." (Jerome à Paris - paraphrased by Orinoco)

[Richard Bowring]

Dear Colleagues.

Making a map should be dead simple these days but it isn’t. 

First of all you need the software. Specialists will go for Adobe Illustrator but it’s very expensive and no longer stand-alone. It also needs a year’s sabbatical to learn. I have no experience with Photoshop but I do know it is not really designed to deal with drawings. My recommendation would be Affinity Designer, which is relatively cheap and does everything you need and more. It is a godsend. Even so, it took me some time to learn how to use it efficiently.

Then you have to have something to work with, and it must be a vector map. The ones on the Harvard website are useless, because you cannot alter them. There are two ways of doing this. 

Either you produce your own base map from scratch by scanning an outline into the software and then drawing over it to produce something the software can “read”. You can do this with your mouse but it is better with a tablet and a pen. This can be extremely time-consuming but you end up with something you can manipulate and add layers to, and it’s all yours. It all depends on how obsessed you are with maps!

For beginners, I would suggest downloading one of the free vector maps that are available on the web (try https://freevectormaps.com), and playing with it using Affinity Designer. Once you have got some experience, you might want to buy a more up-market vector base which will have more detail. What happens to copyright if you strip away the detail you do not want and add your own, I have no idea.

Enjoy.

Richard Bowring

[Arthur Oaden]

I would probably advise Professor Bowrings advice. ESRI and a few other companies have some excellent but in my experience buggy professional map making software, ESRI's is called ARC GIS. Your University might be able to provide a copy, perhaps but it does probably itself require a bit of a sabatical to learn and I don't think I even have access to a copy right now.
Best, Arthur Oaden

[Scheid, Bernhard]

I hesitated to answer this thread because I was hoping to see someone coming up with more practical solutions but from my own experience, I can only second Richard’s mail. For my last volume, I used the Genroku editions of Tokugawa maps available on the net as a basis (which are remarkably precise if you compare them with Google maps), copied them into the ridiculously expensive Adobe Illustrator (which needs some time to learn the counter-intuitive program code but among Adobe products this is the choice for map drawing) and drew my own outlines of all in all three provinces. The advantage: you learn Japanese geography…  I know people who did that for modern Japan but nobody to ask for a grid of the ancient provinces. There must exist some but probably not for free.

 

I also experimented with all sorts of freeware that visualizes geo-code but in the end they all turned out too complicated for me.

 

Best

 

Bernhard Scheid

--

PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com
For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit www.pmjs.org.
Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PMJS: Listserv" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/9A826051-6E58-4F65-9702-960C42A28A87%40cam.ac.uk.

[Paula R. Curtis]

Dear all,

To add to the conversation of what exists out there, it was reported at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute two years ago that Shiryōhensanjo folks are currently working on an integrated shoen map system with linked data to their textual database entries, but this is not anywhere near complete and only accessible by Shiryohensanjo professors (to my knowledge). Accessibility continues to be an issue for many of the resources out there.

That said, there is the Database of the Shōen ezu Reproductions on the Shiryōhensanjo database page (http://wwwap.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ships/db-e.html) but the information is not downloadable. 

There is also the shōen database that Rekihaku maintains, but it has no coordinates and is not good for mapping. 

(https://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/up-cgi/login.pl?p=param/soue/db_param)

Alas. I would love to know of any other pre-1600 mapping projects being done in Japan using the extant sources we often go to, problematic as some may be (e.g. Takeuchi Rizo's Shōen bunpu zu).

Best,

Paula

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/8cb8f1d5ff6342d88802d84f6395787e%40oeaw.ac.at.

--

Paula R. Curtis

Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer in History

Council on East Asian Studies

Yale University

http://prcurtis.com/

[Ellen Badgley]

Replying publicly to the list:

I may be only an amateur scholar of Japanese history, but I am professionally a software engineer with a background in Geographic Information Systems. I am familiar with the geospatial software mentioned - ESRI ArcGIS, for one, and also QGIS which is an open source alternative that improves every day.

For the next few months my time will be occupied by an overseas move, but if anyone needs mapping assistance, I will help to the extent that I can.

Ellen Badgley

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAL1MDVSzKorUBdYv1jCLpgokxUCX841KNbCV3ks83Yw0TPR0MQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Richard Bowring]

If you have the time sometime, it would be really useful to have some very basic information and guidance as to what these various GIS softwares actually do and what they use for raw material. I suspect that most of us are having enough trouble simply drawing a map on the computer. And only a few of us will have a need for true geospatial exactitude. 

Richard Bowring

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CACvaRdbX55vB7SZLnPvTso%2B8rWCSXPPVg4q8kt5RsNoUwZkBxg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Ellen Badgley]

Dr. Bowring,

Happy to provide a very quick overview of what GIS software does. 

In short, most GIS and related software is designed to answer at least one of the following questions:

- How can I store and manage data about things on (or near) the surface of the earth? This is the "database" capability, where the state allows you to define and interact with a database containing information on locations, shapes (points, lines, areas, grids, 3d surfaces, etc.) and attributes of geospatial stuff you care about.

- How can I answer questions or do analysis on this geospatial data? This is where the tools contain sophisticated analysis capabilities that help you to discover relationships across space and time. 

- How can I visualize the data, and otherwise make it comprehensible to my intended audience? This is the cartography component, and most software packages contain some pretty fancy tools for easily assembling usable maps. These days, "usable maps" also include sophisticated interactive cartographic websites and so on.

ESRI ArcGIS is one of the original software packages and is widely used. Recently, Quantum GIS (QGIS) and a related suite of free and open source options make excellent alternatives with a flattening learning curve.

As for data sources, there are multiple repositories for locating geospatial data at various resolutions and for different purposes. Nowadays many of these are made available under Creative Commons or similar arrangements via web services, and packages like ArcGIS and QGIS are set up to be able to consume these services automatically.

Historical GIS is itself a legitimate subdiscipline of GIS (and, well, history!)  For a list of illuminating projects, check out 

http://www.aag.org/cs/projects_and_programs/historical_gis_clearinghouse/hgis_databases.

Best,

Ellen Badgley

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/1A7499A9-3748-40B9-A9D1-933D2780AFC0%40cam.ac.uk.

[Scheid, Bernhard]

Dear Ellen Badgley,

 

thank you! But to come back to the (my?) initial question: I would be forced to geocode the old provincial borders by myself, right? Or is there data on these available already?

 

Best wishes

 

Bernhard

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CACvaRdZE7Mb1Go%3DjGTV13HRzW1uOen3awKod3S0hhm_M%2BsPneA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Helen E. Moss]

Dear Ellen,

Thank you for explaining so clearly. I just spent a happy hour looking at some of the historical GIS projects on the link you provided (I had to limit it to an hour). Brilliant!!

Thank you, again,

Helen Moss

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CACvaRdZE7Mb1Go%3DjGTV13HRzW1uOen3awKod3S0hhm_M%2BsPneA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Ellen Badgley]

Bernhard,

I don't recall the details of what you were searching for, but please see if https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/2CVTR0 is approximately it - it is a dataset of kuni boundaries from the Tokugawa period (also with the major roads and the daimyo).  These are in Shapefile format, which should ingest into any geospatially-enabled software package.

The kuni layer is shown in the attached image file (which may not come through for everybody). I've turned on automatic labeling of the romaji.  

Best,

Ellen

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/6c08419c55704e9a8c1cca984c292734%40oeaw.ac.at.

[Jingyi Li]

Dear all,

To add to the existing conversations: ESRI has a much easier to use software called ArcGIS Online. https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-online/overview

Most universities with a geography department has access to it. On this browser-based mapping tool, you can search for map layers that are created by other people in any language and use them for your own maps. You can also draw lines for provincial boundaries to use as your own map notes. Base on the map layers and notes created, one can also choose to add other data sources (in this case, distribution of textiles and materials) and make it into different formats of visualized data map.  

The ArcGIS Online FAQ has very detailed tutorials for adding map layers, map notes, and visualizing data. It's very user-friendly and easy to learn. I'd be happy to help if you want to know more about this app.

Hope it helps.

Sincerely,

Jingyi

[Scheid, Bernhard]

Wow, thank you! And thanks to PMJS for helping people out of isolation!

 

Best

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CACvaRdZVXc6YFjDF4VjsvkuVRrL_E8kBFq0W6jeyFeuc4aPhfw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Richard Bowring]

I have a funny feeling that you will regret having offered to help! But please continue to do so.

Question. I downloaded this particular file (png format) and opened it with Affinity Designer, but there is only one layer. I unlocked it but even so it cannot be manipulated. One would have to use it as background and trace into the software to use it, as I have already done with a file from a different source.

I then went to the dataverse site and tried to download it. I succeeded but unfortunately it was not readable. I suppose this is what you mean by Shapefile format. So to use this particular map one would need to investigate using QGIS or similar?

Richard Bowring

On 15 Mar 2021, at 20:44, Ellen Badgley <flyin...@gmail.com> wrote:

Bernhard,

I don't recall the details of what you were searching for, but please see if https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/2CVTR0 is approximately it - it is a dataset of kuni boundaries from the Tokugawa period (also with the major roads and the daimyo).  These are in Shapefile format, which should ingest into any geospatially-enabled software package.

The kuni layer is shown in the attached image file (which may not come through for everybody). I've turned on automatic labeling of the romaji.  

Best,

Ellen

<image.png>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CACvaRdZVXc6YFjDF4VjsvkuVRrL_E8kBFq0W6jeyFeuc4aPhfw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Ellen Badgley]

Dr. Bowring,

You are correct that the file attached to the email was just an image, which I exported from QGIS. And yes, to view a Shapefile (which is the format the original data is in) you would need appropriate software, like QGIS.

The main QGIS site is here: https://www.qgis.org/en/site/

To get started with QGIS is actually well-documented with a number of tutorials.  The official Training Guide is at https://docs.qgis.org/3.16/en/docs/training_manual/ and is very logical in starting out with the basics of how to add data to a project and use it to make a map.

(This additional tutorial focuses on how to make a basic map - of Japan!  https://www.qgistutorials.com/en/docs/3/making_a_map.html)

Best,

Ellen Badgley

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/1E3038CB-0804-4C51-9707-5A7B781B5B6D%40cam.ac.uk.