Development of Olomouc city in 1930–2009: based on analysis of functional areas

Abstract

The paper and the maps deal with analysis of Olomouc city development that was based on GIS processing. The first step of the following analysis was digitization of all city plans created in the twentieth century. The new city plan that is going to be finalized in 2011 was also included in this analysis. Altogether four city plans from 1930, 1955, 1985 and 1999 were collected, digitized and analyzed. The main result of this work is a set of maps that shows how serious the changes in Olomouc city in the last few decades were. The maps are not only documents of the status of each functional area in the studied periods. In the form of synthesis, the maps also show stability and instability of spatial functional structure. The maps can be used as a significant source of information about developments of Olomouc city during the twentieth century. The results can be used as an important source for a number of geographical or urban studies, both for experts and the general public.

Keywords:

• functional areas
• municipality plan
• Olomouc city
• development

1. Introduction

Czech municipal plans and their elaboration have changed significantly during the twentieth century. From the point of view of cartography, mainly used map bases or scales of map outputs and designs have been changing and evolving. Other areas which have undergone significant changes were cartographic means of expression, used symbols, level of generalization and, last but not least, the way of their elaboration and processing up to the current fully digital solutions.

Not only visualization, but also content of municipal plan have undergone number of changes in the last two centuries. Present-day municipal plan is a work of much more complex and demanding nature. It is also a much more complex document, full and detailed understanding of which is not easy even for the expert public. Thanks to the complete set of all the municipal plans of Olomouc city created in the course of the twentieth century, it was possible to carry out an analysis of the development of the city regarding changes and stability of functional areas, development of urban spatial structures and ongoing processes of urbanization and suburbanization.

The set of compiled maps illustrates the changes of the urban area of Olomouc and also the strategy of its changes (Burian et al., 2010). The maps document the state of functional areas in the given year. They also work as analytical maps displaying the results of spatial analyses. The analysis of the development of Olomouc city was carried out on the strength of all the municipal plans valid throughout the twentieth century. It also uses the data of the upcoming municipal plan which should come into effect in 2013. While elaborating the analyses, emphasis was placed on the spatial structure of the city and its changes during the twentieth century. In this area changes of the functional spatial structure were particularly stressed. These can be easily traced in the municipal plans.

2. Methods

It was necessary to first scan the old municipal plans using a large-format scanner and then, by means of georeferencing, convert it to the Datum of Uniform Trigonometric Cadastral Network (S-JTSK coordinate system) using the Esri ArcGIS 9.3 software. Affine transformation using ground control points was chosen for the conversion. A cadastral map in the form of WMS (Web Map Services) from the web pages of the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre was chosen as a layout for the georeferencing. The conversion of the municipal plans from the years 1955 and 1985 to the S-JTSK system was trouble-free because their base was a cadastral map.

Both the plans were elaborated in the S-JTSK system (on the base of the cadastral map) and so the transformation consisted only in placing both the drawings into the coordinate system. The conversion of the oldest municipal plan was more complicated because its base consisted only in a topographic map which contained just a few significant and permanent buildings suitable for placing ground control points. Moreover, this plan was not created in the S-JTSK system and so its transformation had to be carried out.

After a successful georeferencing of all the plans it was necessary to perform their digitization. The municipal plans were digitized without any generalization so as to prevent any loss of information and make sure that the created data layers can be used in a wide range of tasks. Because of the great amount of data and their difficult interpretation, which was made even more difficult by the imprecise realization of the municipal plans of that period, the digitization was an extremely time-consuming phase of the research. The present-day municipal plan from the year 1999 was already in digital, vector form. It was, however, necessary to convert it from the dgn file format to the Esri ArcGIS geodatabase. The data contained number of topological errors and inaccuracies and their conversion and following verification were also very time-consuming.

After digitizing the municipal plans and converting the data, a unified geodatabase (File Geodatabase) was created. It contained four datasets (according to the municipal plans). Each dataset then contained several data layers (Feature Class). Number of layers in the datasets differs depending on the amount of information inherent in the municipal plans. The geodatabase represented a complete image of all the municipal plans which had to be further modified in order to be compared with each other. Regarding the differences between the individual plans, an attribute generalization was elaborated. It merged the categories of the individual municipal plans in order to enable comparative analyses.

The geodatabase can be used on two levels – as a complete image of the twentieth-century municipal plans or as municipal plans containing unified map key and thus enabling a whole range of spatial analyses. The digital database of the municipal plans served as a base of all analyses which were further elaborated in the GIS environment. It was chiefly an overlay analysis on basis of which stable functional areas were evaluated, intensity of changes was established and urbanization and suburbanization processes were localized.

2.1 Map Purpose

The maps are intended chiefly for the general public which is interested in learning about the development of Olomouc city during the last 80 years from the point of view of urban planning(Přidal, 2003). Furthermore, they can serve the experts in the fields of geography, cartography, architecture, urban studies and as a background for number of geographical analyses. Basic work with the maps does not require any deeper understanding of the given problems. The map set is thematically focused on interpretation of the results of spatial analyses socioeconomic data contained in the municipal plans of Olomouc city (Schulz, 2002). Names of all the maps contain material, temporal and spatial specifications.

2.2 Map Scale

Despite the different areas covered by the individual maps a unified scale of 1: 60,000 was chosen being most appropriate for the represented phenomena. The maps of functional use of areas always cover the area which was represented in the respective municipal plan. Analytical maps cover the area of the present-day city of Olomouc. The sole exception is the map of stable functional areas which displays only the intersection of the four municipal plans. The chosen scales correspond with the content of the maps, observe the established standards and were chosen with regard to their high clarity and practicality.

2.3 Map Projection

For all the maps, the Křovák's conformal conical projection in the Datum of Uniform Trigonometric Cadastral Network was chosen. Besides the basic compositional elements every map contains one superstructural element in the form of a supplementary text. This brief commentary describes the most significant elements or findings represented in the map.

3. Conclusions

The aim of this paper was to pictorially represent the functional spatial structure of Olomouc city according to the municipal plans from the years 1930, 1955, 1985 and 1999 on the basis of the compiled thematic maps. These maps can be easily used to assess the spatial structures of Olomouc city, their historic development and their relations to urbanization processes in Olomouc during the twentieth century (see Main Map). The compiled maps provide a different regard at functioning of the city in the particular time periods, strength of political power and presently also pressures exerted by multinational and development projects. The maps thus reflect the development of Olomouc city and thanks to the comprehensive map set provide for a detailed understanding of urbanization processes from the spatio-temporal point of view (Zatloukal, 1983). The compiled maps can therefore serve as basis for a number of geographic or urbanistic studies and contribute to better public awareness.

Software

The data were created in the Esri ArcGIS 9.3.1. environment. The map outputs were processed in the newer version of this software called ArcGIS 10. Graphic design, including preparation of the maps for print, was carried out in the Adobe^® InDesign^® CS4 software.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the project ‘Research of citizen movement between urban and sub-urban space in Olomouc region’ of the Palacký University, Olomouc (Internal Grant Agency, project no. PrF_2010_14), by project nr. CZ.1.07/2.2.00/15.0276 and by project nr. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0170 co-financed by the European Social Fund and the national budget of the Czech Republic.