Un HGIS per lo studio dei catasti storici della città di Parma

Abstract

Already for several decades disciplines that are involved in urban history can take advantage of the potential offered by the development of information technology. Nowadays the use of GIS developed on historical maps, able to store large amounts of data and relate them to their spatial coordinates, allows to reconsider some phenomena in their spatial distribution. In this direction within the DICATeA of the University of Parma at the end of 2012 started a multidisciplinary project that provides for the construction of a HGIS on historic figurative cadastres of the city. The presence of four historical geometric cadastres, made from the second half of the eighteenth century and based on the same territorial matrix, allows to realize a multi-thresholds system and a regressive reading of urban history from the late eighteenth century to today. The choice to work on this type of sources, in addition to be linked to the quantity and quality of data present, is also encouraged by dual structure of modern registers that, combining cartographic descriptions with textual descriptions of characters, lend themeselves to be analyzed by exploiting the full potential offered by GIS. The zenithal representation of the detailed-geometric maps allows to obtain, thanks to georeferencing operations, the overlap between different maps (also made in different historical periods) and a geometrically and dimensionally correct reading. With the implementation of GIS will be possible to study some historical phenomena from a spatial point of view and operate synchronic and diachronic readings on the history of the city.