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Data Pipeline

Two source streams, one inspectable chain—and several places where a geographic frame enters.

A scanned map and a source page do not become map objects in the same way. They travel through parallel processes, meet in shared reference systems, and remain distinguishable after they reach the interface.

The coordination plate
Historical map
  1. 01Scan and provenance
  2. 02Control points and georeferencing
  3. 03Boundary tracing and dating
  4. 04Validated geometry
Shared referencesGazetteer · bibliography · polity systems · temporal ranges

These make comparison possible but never become the source’s own assertion.

Source page
  1. 01Scan and transcription
  2. 02Verbatim capture
  3. 03Entities, places, and relations
  4. 04Interpretation, last
One databaseClaims, geometries, and citations remain linked but not fused.
Frame provenance
  1. Source vocabulary
    What spatial language does the document use?

    Names, administrative terms, and scales are preserved before matching.

  2. Archival arrangement
    Why did this record survive and how was it classified?

    Collection and source type shape what can be extracted and what remains absent.

  3. Spatial anchoring
    How was a name connected to a place or geometry?

    Exact, regional, route-level, uncertain, and unresolved matches remain distinct.

  4. Interpretive frame
    Which polity system or present reference is being applied?

    These readings are late, named, and reversible.

  5. Interface frame
    How are records grouped, filtered, labeled, and compared?

    The display is part of the argument and is therefore documented as a mediation.

Capture ≠ interpretation

The source assertion survives every later reading

When a source names Filasṭīn, the platform records that usage as written. A present-day polity match or administrative comparison may be added later, but it cannot replace the source term. The same separation governs coordinates, dates, affiliations, journeys, and boundaries.

Architecture

Recognition → anchors → schemas → assemblages → interfaces

The pipeline does not remove mediation. It records where mediation occurs and keeps the result open to revision.

Read the governing method →