Introduction

Traditionally, there have been two ways how a town is perceived: As a community of people (civitas) or as a human seat having a certain character (urbs). Within urban history, therefore, the research usually follows two branches, one being focused rather on topography and historical cartography, the other being based on social science and demography. They both draw on the development of digital technologies, as witnessed by the growing number of historical studies exploiting new information and communication technologies. Besides database programs, devices that produce digital data, such as cameras and scanners, the interlinking of computers which led to the creation and development of the World Wide Web, and the various opportunities for effective presentation and publication of research results, it is the development of geomatics and digital cartography which is substantial in the context of a town as the subject of research. Currently available digital tools such as augmented reality or virtual visualization, provide the historian with the opportunity to convey the research through innovative ways which are able to recreate the sense of places through explicit forms of representation.