Description
The map provides a visual search interface to the database of the Pelagios project. Pelagios is a digital classics network which connects heterogeneous data resources from the domain of Ancient World research: classical Greek and Roman literature, collections of coins, inscriptions, or papyri, databases of museum items and archaeological artifacts, repositories of contemporary research articles, etc. To date, Pelagios lists more than 750.000 records, and is growing constantly. Current partners include renowned institutions such as the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in the New York, or the German Archaeological Institute.
AIT Contribution
Together with the Open University and the University of Southampton (both in the UK), AIT has initiated the Pelagios network. AIT was instrumental in the design of the technical infrastructure, and developed the core software components - database, application programming interface, and Web frontend. Furthermore, AIT has provided expertise and technical consulting to the Pelagios partners with regard to data preparation and vocabulary alignment - key conceptual challenges that need to be solved in order to make data as diverse as that of Pelagios interoperable.
Demonstration:The map is a so-called 'heatmap' which shows the geographical distribution of data available in the Pelagios database. Areas with more intensive colour (i.e. areas that are 'redder' than others) have more data available about them. As would be expected, key hotspots in Pelagios are the Mediterranean - in particular Greece, Italy, the Middle East and the Nile region. Clicking on the map with the mouse will bring up a popup for the nearest place that is found. The popup shows how many entries there are in the database for this place. A link leads to a details page, from where the actual content (on the partner's own Websites) can be accessed. It is also possible to type a place name into the search box in the upper right-hand corner. Example queries could be 'Delos', 'Ostia', etc. Search also works for many modern names such as "Athens", "Rome", or "Linz".
