Unlocking archival censuses for spatial analysis: An historical dataset of the administrative units of Galicia 1857–1910

Figures & data

Figure 1. The study area. Source: The Authors.

Figure 2. Workflow for the production of the dataset. Source: The Authors.

Figure 3. Examples of administrative boundary vectorization based on archival maps. (a) Second military survey map (1:28,800) with cadastral commune boundaries, CmC; (b) administrative map (1:115,200) with cadastral commune boundaries, CmC; (c) boundaries with no changes; (d) change connected to urban expansion; (e) no boundary symbol in the riverbed; (f) explanation of the lack of a boundary symbol in the riverbed based on a cadastral map (1:2880) due to disputed area between the communes. Source: The Authors.

Table 1. Summary of the numbers of reconstructed administrative units and parts thereof for census years and second military survey years.

Layer	Geometry type in the dataset	Years
		1857	1861–1864	1869	1880	1890	1900	1910
Circles, statutory cities	Polygons	21	–	Do not exist	Do not exist	Do not exist	Do not exist	Do not exist
Districts or political districts, statutory cities	Polygons	179	–	76	76	76	80	83
Court or judicial districts, statutory cities	Polygons	–	–	–	178	179	186	188
Cadastral communes	Polygons	–	5944	5875	–	–	–	5870
Parts of cadastral communes (political communes, manor areas)	Points	–	–	931	–	–	–	432

Table 2. Names of layers in the dataset.

Layer	Geometry	Year
GAL_YYYY_Cr	polygon	1857
GAL_YYYY_DP	polygon	1857, 1869, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910
GAL_YYYY_DC	polygon	1880, 1890, 1900, 1910
GAL_YYYY_CmC	polygon	1861–1864, 1869, 1910
GAL_YYYY_CmPp, GAL_YYYY_CmCp	point	1869, 1910

Table 3. List of attributes covered by the dataset.

Attributes	For communes	For districts	Description
SrcNm_YYYY	1861–1864, 1869, 1880, 1900, 1910	1857, 1869, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910	Names according to the cartographic or census sources
GArsqkm/haYYYY	1861–1864, 1869, 1910	1857, 1869, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910	Area in km^2 or ha from manual vectorization
SArsqkm/haYYYY	1900	1857, 1869, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910	Area in km^2 or ha from manual vectorization
Cr_YYYY	1857	–	Name of the circle for the cadastral commune
DP_YYYY	1857, 1869, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910	–	Name of the political district for the cadastral commune and part thereof
DC_YYYY	1857, 1869, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910	–	Name of the court district for the cadastral commune and part thereof

Figure 4. Comparison of centroid positions for court districts from the Mosaic Project and from the dataset. Source: The Authors.