The Spatiotemporal Database of the Territory – A Tool for Studying Changes in the Landscape

Abstract

Maps and datasets provide information about the landscape at the moment of data acquisition. An archive of old maps offers a unique collection of snapshots of landscape appearance and phenomena in particular moments of history. Nevertheless, the landscape - features and phenomena - can be represented in each map by different methods and means of map representation, given by the date of origin of each map. Therefore, a complex landscape analysis needs complex data source processing, often focused on selected features or phenomena. The article describes the design and development of a digital landscape model implemented as a database with spatial and temporal dimensions. The spatiotemporal database is focused on landscape change monitoring in selected territories in available time snapshots. The spatiotemporal database of the territory was designed to integrate geographical data originating from different maps and datasets into the data model and with harmonised object classification. The article describes the results of integrating several large- and medium-scale datasets covering the first half of the 19th century up to the present day in a pilot locality in the Czech Republic. The analytical potential of the database is presented by a set of typical analyses utilising temporal views of datasets. The possibility of analysing spatial and attribute changes of features and phenomena in the territory in different periods of time provides a valuable tool for landscape change analyses.