Wikidata:WikiProject Historical Place

The goal of this WikiProject is to discuss a recommendation for describing change of a place over time.

Historical names and boundaries of places

Boundaries of administrative entities change over time. Areas are united, split, relocated or terminated. The names of places vary over time and in different languages. They are related to the changes in administrative borders as well as dependent on context, dialect, regime etc.

Tasks

• Record current best practises
• Identify challenging questions
• Create necessary missing properties
• Create pilot imports

Change over time

Add the results of discussion here, discuss on the talk page or the Wikidata-wide project chat!

A sequence of items vs. changing properties of one item

How long does a place remain the same item, and when is a new item required?

Examples of a single persistent item

• Saint Petersburg (Q656)

Examples of a changing item

• Christiania (Q21711493) and Oslo (Q585)

Properties to connect predecessors, successors, merges and splits

• replaces (P1365) / replaced by (P1366)
• gained territory from (P7903) / gave up territory to (P7904) : used as qualifier on significant event (P793) = boundary change (Q28953942), or occasionally other values https://w.wiki/396p

Hierarchy over time

Historical location vs current location

located in the present-day administrative territorial entity (P3842)

View and sort out existing classes for historical administrative division (Q19832712):

• Taxonomy viewer
• View in SQID

Useful classes:

• former administrative territorial entity (Q19953632)
• historical country (Q3024240)
• former municipality (Q19730508)

Examples

• In this case the change of the containing country of Oslo has been described with the property country (P17). Here is a related discussion.

<add more>

See also

See also properties for #Historical_regions below or merge the topics.

Time

Properties for time

• List properties for datatype time, also used as qualifiers

Qualifiers for time

Title	ID	Data type	Description	Examples	Inverse
start time	P580	Point in time	start time: when a statement starts being valid	Japan <capital> Tokyo <start time> 1868	-
end time	P582	Point in time	end time: when a statement stops being valid	Japan <capital> Heian-kyō <end time> 1868	-
earliest date	P1319	Point in time	earliest date at which an event could have happened. Use as qualifier for other date properties	date of birth of Jesus <earliest date> 0006	-
latest date	P1326	Point in time	unknown: latest possible time that something could have occurred. Use as qualifier for other date properties	date of birth of Jesus <latest date> 0004	-
point in time	P585	Point in time	point in time: date something took place, existed or a statement was true; for providing time use the "refine date" property (P4241)	2012 United States presidential election <point in time> 6 November 2012	-
valid in period	P1264	Item	time period when a statement is valid	Tübingen <valid in period> standard time	-

• Further fuzziness can be defined using the date property's precision.
• Examples needed

Toponyms

• Names in different languages, contexts, administration, script systems
• Change of names over time and in relation to boundary or administrative changes.

• Which datatypes and properties are used.

Questions

1. Should place names be modeled as a property of a place or as separate items, either Q-items or L-items for lexical entries?
2. Are place names in the scope of the Wikidata project. Current guidelines here: Wikidata:Lexicographical data/Notability#Proper Nouns

Properties to use for historical names

Title	ID	Data type	Description	Examples	Inverse
official name	P1448	Monolingual text	official name: official name of the subject in its official language(s)	Germany <official name> Bundesrepublik Deutschland	-
native label	P1705	Monolingual text	native label: label for the items in their official language (P37) or their original language (P364)	Moscow <native label> Москва	-

These are based on practices that are used currently in Wikidata.

Qualifiers for the spelling

Title	ID	Data type	Description	Examples	Inverse
transliteration or transcription	P2440	String	conversion of script: conversion of text to alternate script (use as a qualifier for monolingual text statements; please use specific property if possible)	University of Oran 2 Mohamed Ben Ahmed <transliteration or transcription> Jāmiʻat Wahrān 2 Muḥammad Bin Aḥmad and L9300 <transliteration or transcription> L8168	-
ISO 9:1995	P2183	String	ISO 9: the Latin transliteration of Cyrillic text (used as qualifier)	Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky <ISO 9:1995> Pëtr Ilʹič Čajkovskij	-
revised Hepburn romanization	P2125	String	Hepburn romanization: romanized Japanese following the revised Hepburn romanization system	Tokyo <revised Hepburn romanization> Tōkyō-to	-
Georgian national system of romanization	P2126	String	Georgian national system of romanization: transliteration of text from Georgian script to Latin script according to the Georgian national system of romanization	Georgian <Georgian national system of romanization> kartuli ena	-

Source statement

Title	ID	Data type	Description	Examples	Inverse
stated in	P248	Item	source of information: to be used in the references field to refer to the information document or database in which a claim is made; for qualifiers use P805; for the type of document in which a claim is made use P3865	→ Property talk:P248	-
reference URL	P854	URL	URL: should be used for Internet URLs as references. Use "Wikimedia import URL" (P4656) for imports from WMF sites	George Washington <reference URL> http://cths.fr/an/prosopo.php?id=107557	-
quotation	P1683	Monolingual text	quotation: quotation supporting the statement claim (to be used in the reference or qualifier field only, no quote marks)	Curaçao	-
object named as	P1932	String	use as qualifier to indicate how the object's value was given in the source	Before the embers <object named as> Léon Grandet	subject named as

• There are several other generic source statements, such as date, page, chapter etc.

Questions

• official name (P1448) describes the official name in any language, and can be constrained by time. native label (P1705) is used to describe the local name. This could be used to display the variety of naming conventions, but the purpose of the property does seem limited to one original local form. See the discussion about the property. If native label (P1705) cannot be used for different purposes, there is still a property missing.

Example

Tartu (Q13972)

Properties for places

• Select which features are in the scope of this project
• List the key properties for each type of place feature and how change is expressed
• Which WikiProjects should be connected with each feature?
• What external expertise is available?
• Identify missing properties. Note: Data type geographic shape is pending for the time being.

Generic, authority control

There are hundreds of identifiers marking geographic places. Here's a list of all Wikidata properties for authority control about places.

Please introduce significant identifiers here:

Title	ID	Data type	Description	Examples	Inverse
GeoNames ID	P1566	External identifier	GeoNames: identifier in the GeoNames geographical database	Piton de la Fournaise <GeoNames ID> 935877	-
OpenStreetMap relation ID	P402	External identifier	OpenStreetMap relation and OpenStreetMap: identifier for a relation in OpenStreetMap	Berlin <OpenStreetMap relation ID> 62422	-
Pleiades ID	P1584	External identifier	identifier for a place in Pleiades hosted at pleiades.stoa.org	Gortyn <Pleiades ID> 589796	-
Trismegistos Geo ID	P1958	External identifier	identifier of an ancient place on trismegistos.org	Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa <Trismegistos Geo ID> 30060	-
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names ID	P1667	External identifier	identifier in the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names	Siena <Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names ID> 7011179	-

Place type matching

Also consider Pleiades place type (proposal). Link to wherever the work will be carried out, Mix'n'Match?

Administrative entities

There is a Request for Comments about modelling Countries, subdivisions, and disputed territories

Which features are in the scope of this project

For example country, region, city, village, hamlet

Related WikiProjects

• Administrative_territorial_entity
• Wikidata:WikiProject_Countries
• Wikidata:WikiProject_Country_subdivision
• Wikidata:WikiProject_Municipalities_of_Germany

Historical regions

Title	ID	Data type	Description	Examples	Inverse
has part(s)	P527	Item	has part, consist of and meronymy: part of this subject; inverse property of "part of" (P361). See also "has parts of the class" (P2670). using has part to link to present day administrative entities. It may be worth creating items for each point in time when the scope differs.	Occitania <has part(s)> Occitania	part of

Houses, buildings and monuments

Which features are in the scope of this project

Key properties for the feature

Missing properties

Related WikiProjects

• Wikidata:WikiProject_Cultural_heritage
• Wikidata:WikiProject_WLM
• Wikidata:WikiProject_France/Monuments_historiques
• Wikidata:WikiProject_UK_and_Ireland/monuments
• Wikidata:WikiProject_Philippine_historical_markers
• w:Wikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places

Expertise, participants

Natural features

Which features are in the scope of this project

Key properties for the feature

Missing properties

Related WikiProjects

• Wikidata:WikiProject_Rivers

Expertise, participants

Streets, roads

Which features are in the scope of this project

Key properties for the feature

Missing properties

Related WikiProjects

• Wikidata:WikiProject_Roads
• Wikidata:WikiProject_Railways

Expertise, participants

Other

• Wikidata:WikiProject_Geodata
• Geographical_WikiProjects
• OpenHistoricalMap is a copy of the OpenStreetMap software stack with the addition some additional magic around start_date and end_date.
• Wikimaps Are currently uploading historical maps and then digitizing them into OpenHistoricalMap.

Pilots

There are several datasets that are ready to be imported or are already being imported to Wikidata. List them here to make referencing them easier. Note the source and the Wikidata destination. Make remarks about decisions that were needed or need to be solved for the import to happen.

You can also introduce a dataset and ask for community discussion about importing it.

Resources: Historical Gazetteers

Add any resources you will find a useful reference or a future import. If a non-open source has been added, please make a note!

Global

• GeoNames
• Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (Linked Open Data version)
• Library of Congress Digital Gazetteer
• Historic.Place
• List of historical gezetteers and resources, Center for Geographic Ananlysis at Harvard University
• List of historical gazetteers at American Association of Geographers
• OpenHistoricalMap
• World Historical Gazetteer

Regional

• LoCloud
• National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS)
• Pleiades

Local / national

• Finnish Ontology Service of Historical Places and Maps
• HGIS Germany
• Histograph
• Histopo.nl
• New York City Chronology of Place
• PastPlace

participants

[+] Add yourself to the list

The participants listed below can be notified using the following template in discussions:
{{Ping project|Historical Place}}

• Susannaanas (talk) 07:40, 29 March 2016 (UTC)
• Abbe98 (talk) 16:53, 29 March 2016 (UTC)
• Iberti (talk) 17:05, 29 March 2016 (UTC)
• Eetu Mäkelä (talk) 18:13, 29 March 2016 (UTC)
• Jura. Good idea! Interested in place names (mainly).
• Humphrey Southall (talk) 13:43, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
• Fralambert (talk) 22:36, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
• Rainer Simon (talk) 10:10, 17 April 2016 (UTC)
• Melderick (talk) 13:56, 7 June 2016 (UTC)
• Llywelyn2000 (talk) 16:47, 7 June 2016 (UTC)
• Vladimir Alexiev (talk) 10:36, 15 June 2016 (UTC)
• Capankajsmilyo (talk) 21:04, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
• Ainali (talk) 08:59, 24 November 2016 (UTC)
• Jheald (talk) 01:15, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
• B20180 (talk) 05:33, 27 July 2017 (UTC)
• Elinese (talk) 19:19, 23 March 2018 (UTC)
• Salgo60 (talk) 10:34, 13 April 2018 (UTC)
• PKM (talk) 01:31, 15 April 2018 (UTC)
• Tris T7 ^{TT me} Tris T7 (talk) 19:53, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
• Sp!ros (talk) 16:07, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
• Pollockc (talk) 18:26, 25 November 2019 (UTC)
• ChristianSW (talk) 14:10, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
• Stephen Gadd (talk) 10:31, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
• Iain Hallam (talk) 01:36, 5 April 2022 (UTC)