Overview

The VCP Gazetteer is the basis for VCP’s study and archiving of information on VCP places. In this sense it can be understood a dictionary of place names, with limited additional information – types of places, location, relationships, and brief description. Technically, it is an index of all “features” in the region, which is a generic term signifying all places of any type that have a geographical footprint, whether they be regions – nations, counties, cultural regions, and so forth – or points – specific lakes, villages, archaeological sites, and so forth. Thus is includes natural and cultural features.

The Gazetteer is not intended to maintain specialized descriptive information on specific types of features – such as rich descriptive information on monasteries, or the linguistic attributes of a community, and so forth. Such information has to be maintained in separate repositories. The Gazetteer instead offers an authoritative resource to search for place names of all types, and consult standard and limited information on the corresponding places. Thus the most sophisticated aspect of the Gazetteer is the extensive information on place names in various forms corresponding to various languages, historical periods, and usages.

The Gazetteer is additionally intended to function as a service to index other resources on the basis of relevant locations. This entails other databases using the Gazetteer’s unique geographical identifier to specify location-based information. This applies to all types of information that involve a specific location – such as location of recording, or location of speaker’s birthplace for audio-video recordings.This will allow users of the Gazetteer to easily identify and consult various resources within THDL that are related to the feature being viewed – images, audio-video recordings, essays, journal reprints, and specialized feature databases. Ultimately, we plan to offer the Gazetteer’s services so that non-VCP projects might utilize it to geo-index their own holdings, thereby providing a means for a broader indexing of VCP digital resources on the basis of geographical criteria.

The chief areas of the Gazetteer are as follows for all features:

1. Names - Times - Types - Ids or geocodes - Locations - Relationships - Descriptions

Feature names provides comprehensive documentation of all the variant forms of the name of a given “feature”, i.e. toponyms. This includes names in different languages, vernacular vs. official names, and names in different time periods. A feature may contain one or more feature names, each containing its own descriptive and administrative (e.g. date of entry) meta-data.

XML: Sub-elements that fall within <fname> include dates of validity of the name <covtime>, etymologies <etymology>, pronunciation <pronunciation>, explanation of the source of the name <authority>, and any alternative name for the feature <altname>. Attributes: certainty, entrydate, id, isCurrent, label, lang, priority, resp, trans, type. Subelements: covtime, authority, etymology, pronunciation, altname (and geogname which is nothing but a container for the name itself)

Name History (sa cha’i ming lo rgyus): this is a synoptic survey of the naming history of the feature, rather than simply the documentation of a single entry. Thus, as opposed to the data in the Name Details section above which apply to a specific name, this data applies to the feature as a whole. Multiple histories can be created for a feature if different editors want to express their specific interpretation. XML: 0 or 1.

History Editor: Choose the creator/editor of the history passage. If the name is not there, then add it to the list.

History Edit Date: Enter the date the history was created/revised in the form of yyyy/mm/dd.

Name: Make an entry for each distinct name.

FMP: You will see that if you enter anything into the white box for Names, a second row of white boxes will appear. Each row of boxes is a unique record in our Names database; entries can be repeated ad infinitum. Note, however, that if you want to draw a relationship between any names (such as defining a name as a translation of another name), you need to follow the link to “Manage more feature Name details…” and there you can indicate the ID number of the name from which the name is derived.

Language: Enter the language of the current name entry. Choices include:

• Chinese * English * Vietnamese

FMP: Edit… – Use this to add language choices.

Name Type: Choices are as follows:

• “standard” (the name we designate as normative) * variant * Vernacular * old orthography * mistaken orthography * formal * other (specify)

Transliteration/Translation Form: If the name is a translation or transliteration of another place name, indicate that here.

• Translation * Transliteration * Transliteration/Translation

Transliteration Scheme: Indicate the transliteration scheme, if any applies.

• Unknown orthographic * Pinyin * Unknown phonetic

Name “Derived From” Note: If the name in question is not an original name, but rather is derived from another name – such as a Chinese translation of a Korean name, then indicate here the name from which the name is derived.

Name Begin: Be as specific as you can in indicating the earliest instance of the name in the current entry. In asserting a date, make sure that you can cite a source. If you have a complete Western date, then enter that in the form of 4-digit year/2-digit month/2-digit day. If you only have a year or century then enter that.

Name Begin Certainty Range: If there is some degree of uncertainty about the begin date, enter that here. For example if your sources say it was some time within 10 years of 1450, you would enter Begin Date of 1450 and Certainty Range of 10 years.

Name End: If a name is no longer in existence, be as specific as you can in indicating the date at which the name ceased to apply. In asserting a date, make sure that you can cite a source. If you have a complete Western date, then enter that in the form of 4-digit year/2-digit month/2-digit day. If you only have a year or century then enter that.

Name End Certainty Range: If there is some degree of uncertainty about the end date, enter that here. For example if your sources say it was some time within 10 years of 1450, you would enter End Date of 1450 and Certainty Range of 10 years.

Instance Date: Use this field to indicate a date that the feature name is known to be applicable when the date is neither a beginning or ending date. This can be seen as a snapshot; for instance if a source indicates that a feature was called by a certain name in 1796 but the source does not specify when the name began or the feature was founded, merely enter the date referenced.

Date Free Text: This is field in which general dates can be entered, such as “19th Century” or “Early 19th Century”, etc.

Period: The period is to be used if you only know a period during which the name was applied – eg. if your sources indicate that the name “Biwu” was in use during the reign of Qianlong. We eventually probably need to make this a controlled vocabulary.

Sources: See the note on Bibliographic Sources above.

Is Name Current: If you are able to ascertain from your sources whether the name is currently in use, then indicate that here. Choices are “yes”, “no”, and “unspecified”.

Etymology: This should be filled out for each name if possible. Provide an etymology of what the place name means.

Sources: Indicate the sources used in creating the etymology entry.

This section addresses the temporal range of the feature itself - i.e. a start and end date - in contrast to the dates for any given names attached to the feature.

Feature Begin : Be as specific as you can in indicating the earliest instance of the feature in the current entry. In asserting a date, make sure that you can cite a source. If you have a complete Western date, then enter that in the form of 4-digit year/2-digit month/2-digit day. If you only have a year or century then enter that.

Feature Begin Certainty Range : If there is some degree of uncertainty about the begin date, enter that here. For example if your sources say it was some time within 10 years of 1450, you would enter Begin Date of 1450 and Certainty Range of 10 years.

Feature End : If the feature is no longer in existence, be as specific as you can in indicating the date at which it ceased to exist. In asserting a date, make sure that you can cite a source. If you have a complete Western date, then enter that in the form of 4-digit year/2-digit month/2-digit day. If you only have a year or century then enter that.

Feature End Certainty Range : If there is some degree of uncertainty about the end date, enter that here. For example if your sources say it was some time within 10 years of 1450, you would enter End Date of 1450 and Certainty Range of 10 years.

Instance Date : Use this field to indicate a date that the feature is known to exist when the date is neither a beginning or ending date. This can be seen as a snapshot; for instance if a source indicates that a feature was in existence in 1796 but the source does not specify when it began or ceased to exist, merely enter the date referenced.

Date Free Text : This is field in which general dates can be entered, such as “19th Century” or “Early 19th Century”, etc.

Period: The period is to be used if you only know a period during which the name was applied – eg. if your sources indicate that the he name “Biwu” was in use during the reign of Qianlong. We eventually probably need to make this a controlled vocabulary.

Sources : See the note on Bibliographic Sources below.

Is Feature Current : If you are able to ascertain from your sources whether the feature currently exists or not, then indicate that here. Choices are “yes”, “no”, and “unspecified”.

Features can be classified into specific types - mountains, monasteries, cities, and so forth. The types are specified in VCP's evolving Feature Thesaurus. This classification allows users to view all features of a given type, or use that as a way to constrain searches.

• Feature Type: We are currently working on an extensive typology/thesaurus of features. Your entries and input will provide much needed data. Here are the choices in alphabetical order, with translation: * Type Begin: Be as specific as you can in indicating the earliest instance of the type in the current entry. In asserting a date, make sure that you can cite a source. If you have a complete Western date, then enter that in the form of 4-digit year/2-digit month/2-digit day. If you only have a year or century then enter that. * Type Begin Certainty Range: If there is some degree of uncertainty about the begin date, enter that here. For example if your sources say it was some time within 10 years of 1450, you would enter Begin Date of 1450 and Certainty Range of 10 years. * Type End: If a feature type is no longer in existence, be as specific as you can in indicating the date at which the type ceased to apply – an example would be a feature that was a monastery, which was then turned into a granary. In asserting a date, make sure that you can cite a source. If you have a complete Western date, then enter that in the form of 4-digit year/2-digit month/2-digit day. If you only have a year or century then enter that. * Type End Certainty Range: If there is some degree of uncertainty about the end date, enter that here. For example if your sources say it was some time within 10 years of 1450, you would enter End Date of 1450 and Certainty Range of 10 years. * Instance Date: Use this field to indicate a date that the feature type is known to be applicable when the date is neither a beginning or ending date. This can be seen as a snapshot; for instance if a source indicates that a feature was of a given type in 1796 but the source does not specify when the type began or ended, merely enter the date referenced. * Date Free Text: This is field in which general dates can be entered, such as “19th Century” or “Early 19th Century”, etc. * Period: Though there are currently no existing choices in the dropdown menu, the period is to be used if you only know a period during which the type was applied. * Sources: See the note on Bibliographic Sources below. * Is Type Current: If you are able to ascertain from your sources whether the type is currently in use, then indicate that here

This documents all relevant identification numbers for the feature used in government systems, or other important databases. In addition, it provides a unique Feature ID# within VCP. The VCP Feature ID is used in all other parts of VCP to refer in short hand to this feature, such as in citing the place where an photograph was taken i the image database, the birth place of an author, and so on.

• VCP ID: This is generated automatically and is the same ID number that appears at the top of the entry form. * Other ID: Multiple IDs can be created for a feature; each horizontal line of boxes contains the metada about a given ID. * ID Type: Enter the type of ID number. The editable set of choices at this point includes: * VCP ID * Extended GB: This is the extension of the Chinese GB code ; it applies to administrative features in China. * Postal Code * Address
• ID Sources: See the note on Bibliographic Sources above.

This provides details about the feature's location, such as the GIS (Geographical Information Systems) readings on latitude, longitude, and altitude, or more imprecise data such as a textually expressed description of its location from contemporary observation or textual sources.

The majority of features we will be documenting with this entry form are point features, or spot features. They are so termed because they are the types of features that exist as specific points on a map (such as monasteries, hermitages, buildings), as opposed to polygons, such as provinces, counties, etc. In the case of spot features, we have “point” data; for the larger features of the “polygon” variety, we provide a space to enter bounding box details.

• Longitude (X) Degrees: Enter the longitude in degrees. * Longitude (X) Decimal: If one's reading is in decimal degrees, with a degree value followed by decimal point, followed by other values (commonly 5-digits), then enter the value at the right of the decimal. * Longitude (X) Minutes: Enter the minutes longitude. * Longitude (X) Seconds: Enter the seconds longitude. * East/West (X): Enter whether the value is east or west of the prime meridien (our values will most likely be in the East. * Latitude (Y) Degrees: Enter the latitude in degrees. * Latitude (Y) Decimal: If one's reading is in decimal degrees, with a degree value followed by decimal point, followed by other values (commonly 5-digits), then enter the value at the right of the decimal. * Latitude (Y) Minutes: Enter the minutes latitude. * Latitude (Y) Seconds: Enter the seconds latitude. * North/South (Y): Enter whether the value is north or south of the Equator (our values will most likely be in the North. * Point Time: Enter the time for which the point coordinates are valid. * Point Sources: See the note on Bibliographic Sources above.

For certain features, we will be able to obtain coordinates for a bounding box, usually in the form of at least 2 corners. Where you have corner coordinates, enter them here.

• Northwest Longitude (X): Enter the longitude of the Northwest corner in decimal degrees format. * Northwest Latitude (Y): Enter the latitude of the Northwest corner in decimal degrees format. * Southwest Longitude (X): Enter the longitude of the Southwest corner in decimal degrees format. * Southwest Latitude (Y): Enter the latitude of the Southwest corner in decimal degrees format. * Northeast Longitude (X): Enter the longitude of the Northeast corner in decimal degrees format. * Northeast Latitude (Y): Enter the latitude of the Northeast corner in decimal degrees format. * Southeast Longitude (X): Enter the longitude of the Southeast corner in decimal degrees format. * Southeast Latitude (Y): Enter the latitude of the Southeast corner in decimal degrees format. * Box Basis: Enter the basis for which the box coordinates were derived - such as a GPS unit measured at each corner of a bounding wall. * Box Time: Enter the time which the readings were taken. * Box Source: Enter the source for the coordinates.

ALTITUDE

• Altitude: Enter the altitude for the feature. If you need to specify minimum, maximum and average altitudes, follow the link to “Add additional SPATIAL details…” * Altitude Time: Enter the time which the readings were taken.

Altitude Source: Enter the source for the altitude.

This specifies relationships that exist between the feature and other features documented in the Gazetteer. The most important relationship to document is “part of”, in which we indicate what feature a given feature is part of. For example, a “township” can be specified as “part of” a country which contains it. For example, 'bras pungs Monastery is in Lhasa; therefore when creating the Gazetteer entry for 'bras pungs, you would indicate that it is “part of” Lhasa. In terms of directionality, we only specify when something is “part of” something larger, but not the larger thing “containing” the smaller thing. You only need to specify the next level up which contains it, and then that next level is contained by other features - relationships will be implicitly inherited.

FMP: For example, if the entry we are creating is for se ra monastery, and we know that it is part of Lhasa, then we can go to the section below and choose China at the country level, Jiangsu at the province level, Songjiang at the prefecture level, and then Huating at the county level. As we choose a feature from the dropdown menu, the VCP ID for that feature appears at the right. That is the ID of the Related Feature.

• Related Feature ID: Enter the VCP ID for the feature whose relationship you are documenting. Enter the ID of the most granular feature you can for the “part of” relationship – if you can find a relationship at the township level, then enter that. Each horizontal line of white boxes is the data about the relationship. If you have multiple relationships, enter one per line. * Relation Type: Enter the type of relationship. The current choices are: * part of * near * adjacent * intersects * other
• Relation Begin: Be as specific as you can in indicating the beginning of the relationship in the current entry. In asserting a date, make sure that you can cite a source. If you have a complete Western date, then enter that in the form of 4-digit year/2-digit month/2-digit day. If you only have a year or century then enter that.
• Relation End: If a relationship is no longer in effect, be as specific as you can in indicating the date at which the relationship ceased to apply. In asserting a date, make sure that you can cite a source. If you have a complete Western date, then enter that in the form of 4-digit year/2-digit month/2-digit day. If you only have a year or century then enter that.
• Instance Date: Use this field to indicate a date that the feature relation is known to be applicable when the date is neither a beginning or ending date. This can be seen as a snapshot; for instance if a source indicates that a feature was part of another feature in 1796 but the source does not specify when the relationship began or ended, merely enter the date referenced.
• Date Free Text: This is field in which general dates can be entered, such as “19th Century” or “Early 19th Century”, etc.
• Period: Though there are currently no existing choices in the dropdown menu, the period is to be used if you only know a period during which the relationship was applied.
• Related Feature Note: Enter any additional information about the feature relationship here.
• Sources: See the note on Bibliographic Sources below.
• Is Relation Current: If you are able to ascertain from your sources whether the relationship is currently in use, then indicate that here.

This is a short one paragraph ton one page summary description describing the feature. Any description more detailed should not be contained in the gazetteer, but rather in associated specialized databases.

• Feature Description: This is a single paragraph overview of the feature in narrative terms. It provides a brief indicaton of the type of place’s identity and significance. For granular levels of places, it could be a particular shore of a lake, or even a particular room in a place, or a wing of a temple complex. Our plan is to make all references to features within Gazetteer descriptions hyperlinked back to their corresponding Gazetteer entries. We need to specify how editors do that. * Feature Description type: choose from a drop down list - General, Historical, Contemporary, and Physical Setting. * Description Editor: Choose the creator/editor of the description. If the name is not there, then add it to the list. * Description Edit Date: Enter the date the description was created/revised in the form of yyyy/mm/dd. * Sources: You must create a bibliographical entry for your source in the VCP Bibliography database if no such entry exists. * Feature Notes: Enter any additional notes you may have about a feature.

Although ultimately all bibliographical references will be based on an ID generated by VCP's online Bibliography