In this study, we aimed to further the international discussion on the methodology of applying GIS technology to the editing of large-scale cadastral maps, taking the experience of editing the cadastral map of Toruń from 1910–1915 as an example. We present the concept of building a georeferential spatial database of topographic–historical objects (GSDoT-HO), which includes the stages involved in creating the database, its exemplary structure, and a proposal of good practices in this process, which were developed in the course of previous projects using a geographic information system for Historical Atlases of Polish Towns. Our works included the scanning, calibration, and rectification of a total of 178 sheets of cadastral maps (including 154 sheets of the map of Toruń and 24 sheets of the cadastral map of the then-village of Mokre) at differentiated scales of 1:250, 1:500, 1:1000, and 1:2000. Finally, in the process of vectorization, vector and attribute data were acquired, which made up the final result in the form of GSDoT-HOs. This database was created out of seven information layers with linear or polygon geometries, including the two most important layers, i.e., plots and buildings, which for the then-area of the city of Toruń, contained approximately 5800 and 10,800 vectorised polygon objects, respectively. This article shifts the focus of the discussion of standards in the use of GIS technology to edit Historic Towns Atlases from the development of interactive maps to the construction of a database that should enable comparative studies of urban spaces.

This article presents comparative research on the role of towns and urban networks in the process of constructing space during conquest and colonization in selected ‘non-Roman’ regions of Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It focuses on Kulmerland in Prussia and Meath in Ireland. In both regions, the creation of urban networks and new regional spaces entailed the use of pre-existing settlement. However, reception intensity was determined by both the state of preservation of the earlier settlement and the needs of territorial authorities. This comparison shows ways of using symbolic potential (names, central places) and former settlement points for the construction of cities. In both territories, the functions of central places were particularized due to subinfeudation.

Wojciech Lorek, Norbert Delestowicz, and Robert T. Tomczak. Poczet wielkich mistrzów krzyżackich w Malborku 1309–1457 [Lineage of Teutonic Order’s grandmasters in Marienburg 1309–1457]

POLISH RESEARCH ON THE SOCIAL TOPOGRAPHY OF TOWNS IN THE PRE-INDUSTRIAL ERA The goal of this paper is to present an outline of the history and the most significant results of the Polish research on the social topography of towns in the pre-industrial era. In the first part of the paper the author analyses the international research context, emphasising the intense development of research focusing on the social topography of German towns carried out in the 1970s and the 1980s which also resulted in the emergence of interdisciplinary methodological studies by Dietrich Denecke and Rolf Hammel-Kiesow. The involvement of Polish historians in the research projects carried out by the Commission Internationale pour l’Histoire des Villes stimulated the emergence of social topography studies in Poland. These issues were addressed for the first time at a conference organized in Toruń in 1974. The peak of Polish studies on the social topography of towns in the pre-industrial era fell in the 1990s and in the early 2000s. Polish scholars were mostly interested in larger cities (e.g. Toruń, Elbląg, Poznań and Wrocław) and medium-sized towns, such as Sieradz, Chełmno, Świdnica, and Grodno. From the 1980s onward, we can observe a major development in terms of research methodology, which is reflected in the extension of the catalogue of social attributes and the precision of their location within the urban space, as well as in the inclusion of data acquired from archaeological and urban development studies in the analysis. The standard research procedure which has been in use since the 1990s is narrowing down the scope of research to the level of a specific plot of land, or a specific house. In the present comparative analysis which embraces the results of social topography research to date the author focuses on the models of distribution of characteristics of professional and social status within urban space, and on the conditions of the social evaluation of space.