Building the Tunisian Toponymic Geodatabase
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Dhieb, M.; 2Behi, M.; 3Belarem, M.; 4Belhaj Ali, A.
1UNIVERSITY OF SFAX-GEOMAGE TEAM -SYFACTE LABORATORY-FLSHS Email: mohsendhieb2003@yahoo.fr
2UNIVERSITY OF SFAX-FLSHS Email: behi_mabrouk@yahoo.fr
3UNIVERSITY OF SFAX-GEOMAGE TEAM -SYFACTE LABORATORY-FLSHS Email: aremmongi@yahoo.fr
4KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY - DEPT OF GEOGRAPHY AND GIS Email: manager@knowledge-crest.com
Abstract
Todays, it is well-known that toponyms are living bodies that observe various evolutions towards time. When studying the toponymic issue of one geographical entity, too many factors intervene to determine the temporal evolution of each toponym whether considering the local or the international uses. Some factors are very clear and understandable whereas some others are unclear and require special attention and profound examination. It is important to gather the data first and to bring together all elements of the documentation second and to list the multiple evolution processes that lead to the present toponym third. The aim of this research is to reconstitute the numerous and tedious events in a system that can give useful insights and valuable understandings of the history of the toponymy of one geographical entity, Tunisia. The main finding is that, whatever the goal and the use of the map you are intending to produce, you have several toponymic basic choices depending of the general use and the context of use of the map. In a Toponymic Information System (TIS) context, this can be facilitated through the use of multiple layers and dedicated modelying solutions. Webmapping techniques furnish also valuable solutions to publish various toponymic transcriptions and answer different situations depending on the goal and the uses of the map. The first application is based on the Tunisian touristic map 1:500000, and using the Hypercard methodology based on hierarchical and nested or overlapping sets of toponymic features.
Keywords
Toponymy; Geodatabase; Tunisia