This information has then been used to generate a digital map of both present-day and WWI-era Aberystwyth and surrounding area using ArcGIS software, that pinpoints the home addresses of all those who served and also enables the user to drill down and map such features as branch of service, rank, location of service, and other key details. To date we have identified over 1200 individual service personnel, and their details are being updated daily. A publicly accessible updated version will be made available via the website of the Department of History and Welsh History, Aberystwyth University, before the end of 2019 and archived for at least ten years, during which time we are likely to be periodically updating it.
Everyone who has seen the early versions of the map, from volunteers to students to Penglais schoolchildren, has been hugely impressed by the scope and range of the information presented, the insights it gives into the town and its residents during the war years, the diversity of experiences of those who served, and the sheer impact of WWI on the demographics of the town and surrounding area. It provides a model of what can be done with relatively simple computer technology to make history visible and alive to communities, and rooted in the very streets they walk down every day.
We would like to acknowledge with thanks the invaluable help of Professor Barry Robinson, of Queen’s University of Charlotte, USA, in introducing the PL to the ArcGIS software and in translating the database into the map itself.
One of our project volunteers, Jack Atherton, 'road tested' the map and this is what he had to say about it:
The Interactive Map is an incredibly useful tool and visual aid for seeing various pieces of information about soldiers in Aberystwyth. The map has seven templates that showcase the surnames, ranks and pre-war street names of the soldiers who fought in World War One. It also includes a population heat-map and places of interest as well as a list of all the contributors towards the map. All of these can be accessed via the tabs at the top of the page with the user’s cursor. A key of the information that is being displayed will always be on the right-hand side of the map. Below is a breakdown of the different pieces of data available, how they are displayed to the user, and why this data is important.
The Home page, above, is the default page for the map and shows a World War One photograph, ie, the billeting of soldiers i the town. . On the map itself are around a thousand pins, each pin represents an individual from Aberystwyth who served in the military. If a pin is selected a list of basic information for the individual will be shown such as the one below. This is useful for seeing basic information quickly about an individual and includes fields such as names, date of birth, rank and pre-war street name.
If the next tab on the right is selected the page outlines multiple spots of various colours that denote a particular surname; unsurprisingly, many people in Aberystwyth shared the same surname, in this case, Jones, which is indicated in red and very widespread throughout the town.
The next tab indicates the rank of the military personnel from Aberystwyth. This is useful as it shows what kind of soldier the military were recruiting from Aberystwyth, such as more privates, sergeants or high-ranking captains. The map shows there were a lot of privates and drivers recruited from Aberystwyth, but there was still a reasonable number of captains brought into the military as well.
The heat-map tab, below, can also be useful, as this shows what areas of Aberystwyth contributed the most manpower to the war effort. The map will become more useful if compared to other towns with heat-maps in Wales, as we would be able to see where the hotspot areas of recruitment were in the entirety of Wales. The heat-map provides a sense of scale as to how greatly Aberystwyth was affected by the war.
Being able to see where each of the individuals served is also very important as we can see trends as to where Aberystwyth soldiers went collectively. The more data on the locations of soldiers the more interesting and accurate the trends are. From the data we have collected, we found that France was a location that multiple people from Aberystwyth went to in the war, and that there were multiple individuals who went to Egypt.
A colour-coding template for street names highlights which streets were affected most by recruitment and tells us where a lot of young men were living. Northgate Street and Greenfield Street were both highly populated as seen below:
The final tab of the Interactive Map pinpoint locations of interest, such as World War One Memorials. This is useful if the user wants to visit Aberystwyth and see the memorials for themselves or to just get some data. Like with the details of soldiers, the pins can be selected and expanded to give information and directions. Finally, a list of the contributors towards the map and its data are shown in the tab named, ‘List of Contributors’ on the right side.
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