We are all constrained by our location on the planet, as has also been the past. The capacity to place historical information accurately within a geographical framework can open sources of information which may previously have been obscured. This is particularly so in the most intensive land use areas – cities.

Whilst geography may not consciously influence analysis, the use of GIS to collate, analyze and investigate historical material, creates new possibilities for understanding the agency of the environment with our cities.  As tool and technique combined, GIS provides tools to read the landscape differently and to map against the landscape information from other sources, not traditionally thought of as spatial.

A finely-grained investigation of cities, can subsequently, become the driver for a better understanding of human agency in the creation of our urban environment and reveal the connection between place, source, space and history.  Such understandings, in turn, become the catalyst for a reassessment and refreshment of the urban environment through the rediscovery of its unique characteristics.