Historical GIS Research in Canada ed. by Jennifer Bonnell, Marcel Fortin

Historical GIS Research in Canada represents an impressive collection of articles, some authored by senior scholars and some by emerging academics, linked by their utilization of GIS in undertaking historical research and communicating scholarly findings. Edited by historian Jennifer Bonnell and librarian Marcel Fortin, the collection offers both important new research on key themes in Canadian environmental history and an accessible introduction to GIS-driven means of working with spatial data. For scholars and practitioners primarily concerned with ecological restoration, the volume presents an opportunity to engage with the work of scholars dedicated to understanding environmental change over both time and space, and perhaps to encounter intellectual allies in other disciplines or lines of work.

This collection contributes to a growing literature oriented to historical GIS research. Like two earlier volumes on historical GIS edited by Anne Kelly Knowles, Historical GIS Research in Canada offers a diverse selection of articles by practitioners as well as a substantive editorial introduction. Beyond reflecting the contributions of a different group of scholars, Historical GIS Research in Canada also provides a forum for discussion of particular challenges and opportunities related to undertaking GIS-driven historical research in a Canadian context, including difficulties in securing access to data and the prospect of working at a huge range of scales (from a single dwelling to all of rural Canada).

Different articles in this collection stand out for different reasons. For those interested in ecological restoration, Geographer Matthew G. Hatvany’s work on salt marsh evolution in the St. Lawrence Estuary may be particularly notable. For historians interested in work that brings GIS in conversation with standard historical sources, work on aerial photography and the agricultural census (by Joshua D. MacFadyen and William M. Glen) or on integrating GIS and narrative sources (by John S. Lutz, Patrick A. Dunae, Jason Gilliland, Don Lafreniere, and Megan Harvey) will likely be of interest. For scholars interested in theoretically informed work that advances our understanding of key themes in Canadian history, articles by Daniel Rueck (on Mohawk land practices) and Ruth Sandwell (on fuel use across Canada) are good places to start.

Historical GIS Research in Canada is a collection held together by method rather than theme. This approach remains rare in the field of Canadian history, where it is more common to assemble collections of articles based on similarity of topic. The volume is also distinguished from a typical edited collection in the field of Canadian history by its inclusion of projects that are still underway or that are likely to continue indefinitely. Methodologically-informed discussion around ongoing projects could potentially do much to advance the work of historians and allied scholars, whether within or beyond the field of historical GIS. It could also lay the groundwork for more robust cross-disciplinary exchanges, allowing practitioners in the field of ecological restoration, for instance, to engage in more substantive ways with historians and geographers.

The contributors to this volume might perhaps be termed first generation practitioners of historical GIS in Canada. Historical GIS Research in Canada, in pulling together existing projects and prompting discussion on challenges and opportunities, positions second generation practitioners of Historical GIS to build effectively on existing work. It also illustrates to other scholars, whether they define their concerns in ecological, historical or geographical terms, the challenges and opportunities that derive from including GIS-driven approaches in their scholarly toolbox.

The University of Calgary Press is to be commended for the production of this large-size, full-color volume that includes a significant number of figures and illustrations. The majority of these are well-realized and effective, the sort of thing likely to engage a reading public not necessarily concerned with methodological or historiographical matters. The larger number of figures and illustrations in this volume may reflect not just the affordances of GIS technology but also the fact that a number of the projects under discussion are targeted at a broad...