ORBIS (v2) Network Edge and Node Tables. The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World

Authors
Elijah Meeks
|
|
Jonathan Weiland
|
Scott Arcenas
Maintainers
Formats
csv
Nodes
678
Edges
2208
Years
-50500
Access
|
Added
2025-04-14

"ORBIS is a multimodal, seasonally variable transportation network model available at orbis.stanford.edu. The model provides for practically unlimited permutations by allowing users to limit modes, change movement cost, and adjust time of year. However, it is as a more simple network that ORBIS can be usefully integrated into other research, such as historical environmental reconstruction or agent-based modeling set in the Roman world.

With that in mind, this view of the ORBIS network is provided as a simple node and edge list. Nodes are sites and include X and Y coordinates for geographic positioning. Edges have source and target (but no geometry) as well as distance in KM, cost in denarii per kilogram of grain delivered by wagon, and duration of travel in days of each route segment either based on calculated time (for sea routes), fixed speed (for rivers) or 30km/day speed (for roads). The type of the route is also included.

Note that to facilitate interoperability with network analysis packages that do not support parallel edges that in cases where ORBIS has parallel edges (where, for instance two sites may be connected by both a road and a river) that only the cheapest edge has been kept."

Text from: https://purl.stanford.edu/mn425tz9757

Tags
rivers
roads
roman
romanempire
shipping
transport
Modern Countries and Continents
Africa
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Asia
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Egypt
Europe
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Israel
Italy
Jordan
Kosovo
Lebanon
Libya
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Palestine
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland
Syria
Tunisia
Türkiye
United Kingdom
Structure
Directionality
directed
Weighted
yes
Hypergraph
no
Longitudinal
no
Multigraph
no
Multilayer
yes
Multipartile
-
Probabilistic
no
Self Loops
no
Signed
no
Spatial
yes
Canonical Citation
Meeks, Scheidel, Weiland and Arcenas. (2014). ORBIS (v2) Network Edge and Node Tables. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/mn425tz9757
Funding
Stanford University Library, Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA)
Data Publisher
Stanford Digital Repository
Network Topics
economic
hydrology
roads
shipping
transport
Node Topics
crossroads
settlement
Edge Topics
river
road
sea
Node Attributes
latitude
longitude
name
Edge Attributes
cost
edge-type
length
time
Uncertainties
Nodes
-
Edges
-
Node Attributes
-
Edge Attributes
-
Statistics
Avg. Clustering Coefficient
-
Avg. In Degree
3.257
Avg. Out Degree
3.257
Construction

A description of the construction of ORBIS can be found on the website https://orbis.stanford.edu/ And these publications: Scheidel, W., 2015. Orbis: the Stanford geospatial network model of the Roman world. Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics. https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/97801953896610075.2 Scheidel, W., 2014. The shape of the Roman world: modelling imperial connectivity. Journal of Roman Archaeology 27, 7–32.

Sources

Talbert, R.J.A., 2000. Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Source Types
atlas

References used cited under "Building > References" on https://orbis.stanford.edu/#references

Source Types
publication

P. Arnaud 2005. Les routes de la navigation antique: itinéraires en Méditerranée. Paris.

Source Types
publication

Images

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