Suchergebnisse

Historians are increasingly coming to believe that space matters. From claims that "geography is destiny" to the long-held belief that "all politics is local," understanding the implications of space--the spatial turn--is becoming central to the study of history. Understanding the changing nature of politics in this country since the eighteenth century has involved detailed temporal analysis of voting patterns, demographics, etc. at various scales. In order to efficiently conduct such research, relevant and readily available historical resources are a necessity. Through the use of GIS resources, we are making the transition from analog data to digital data. This research allows us to analyze large amounts of historical data from a spatial perspective. The purpose of this project is to make available user-friendly U.S. Congressional historical data and create resources that advance the understanding of the interaction between space and politics in American history. Methods involved creating GIS resources, including shapefiles and formatted data sets of elections results, roll call votes, and district and state demographics. This project is part of an ongoing effort to assess the impact of region, local economies, demographics and local politics on national politics and policy making. The transformation of historical, analog sources and scattered digital data (some from the punch card era) into an integrated base involves surmounting numerous intellectual and information management challenges. This poster will help illustrate the power of GIS and the implications of digital data analysis to the study of American political history, while examining conventional wisdom about realigning elections and changes in the American electorate. ; Virginia Tech. Office of Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing