Tracking in a New Territory: Re-imaging GIS for history

Abstract

This chapter argues that it is not the historians' fault that GIS is not used more often in historical research projects, but rather the unappealing methodology that GIS-both historical and normal GIS-offer. However, it is not called for new software, but a new approach to GIS in history. Taking the clue paradigm of Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg as point of departure, this chapter looks at GIS as a tool to create alternative scenarios for tracking history.