Spatial DB Construction and Characterization of Mountain Ridges based on Sangyeongpyo

Abstract

Sangyeongpyo is a geography book that provides a comprehensive tabulation of mountains and mountain ridges in the late Joseon Dynasty period of Korea. This study focused on analyzing Sangyeongpyo published by the JosonKwangmunhoe(朝鮮光文會), which is the most recently published and widely used edition among the available editions. Eight different editions of Sangyeongpyo, including the one published by the JosonKwangmunhoe, were compared and examined in this study. A database was constructed for mountain ridges and genealogy of mountains composing Sangyeongpyo, watershed areas, and social, historical, and cultural characteristics in the areas were analyzed through the paths of the mountain ridges and the points in the Jimaek therein. The results showed that there were differences between the eight editions, such as in the expression of the major mountain ridge systems. Further, upon examining the Sangyeongpyo edition by JosonKwangmunhoe, we found that 1,586 points constituted 15 mountain ranges. Upon classifying these points into types, we found that there were not only mountain geomorphological types but also places of historical and cultural significance such as Eupchi(邑治), Jinbo(鎭堡). Lastly, the paths and points in the mountain ridges described in Sangyeongpyo were selected primarily considering the distribution of the administrative system of the late Joseon Dynasty period, as well as the connectivity of the mountains ranges leading to them. Furthermore, regardless of the status of topographic watershed classification or dominance of mountain ridge, the applicable path was selected with a priority for mountain ridges described in Sangyeongpyo when there were major points with historical and cultural characteristics as a social community. This study is significant in laying the groundwork for preparing basic data for the development of a more modern and scientific reconstruction of the traditional mountain ridge system through the restructuring of the genealogical descriptions in Sangyeongpyo into a modern network code method, building a DB, and mapping based on the Historical Geographic Information System.