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Please note that this session will be taking in-person only.

Registration for this course will close on the 11 April 2023.


The ‘spatial turn’ is now well established in history and scholars, publishers and readers now frequently expect to see space to be used as a category of analysis, maps used as sources, and research outputs illustrated with custom maps. GIS can be used in a variety of contexts to make sense of information with a spatial aspect, whether at the level of buildings and streets or at the level of nations, and to perform sophisticated geospatial and topographical analyses. However, without training in geographical techniques, tools, and even terminology, it can be challenging for historians to begin to work with this material.

This two-day course is designed to first introduce the history and concepts of mapping, along with the most basic ways of producing your own maps, before then moving on to a second day focusing use of QGIS, a cross-platform open-source mapping package which is rapidly growing in popularity. 

The course is focused on using maps and GIS as tools in spatial analysis of other primary sources, not simply on drawing maps. Advanced skills in using spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel is essential (i.e. you must be confident using formulae and functions in Excel), and experience of using relational databases such as Microsoft Access is strongly recommended.

Fee: £140

The two days are designed as one course, and most students will wish to take them together (for the full fee of £140).

The charge for attending only the first or only the second day is £75. Select your option of choice when ordering.

You might want to attend only Day 1 if you want a “taster”.

You might want to attend only Day 2 if you have already experimented with GIS software on your own or in other contexts, or if you have previously studied Geography.

Otherwise all students are strongly encouraged to attend both days.

An outline of days 1 and 2 of the course can be viewed on the IHR website.