General Information

This contains the identifier for the Knowledge Map, and lets you make the place private or public.

Names

Names for the Knowledge Map. The name of a place can change across languages or time: you can track those changes here. You can also list popular names for a place, like "C'ville" for "Charlottesville."

Caption

A brief, "tweet-sized" description for the KMap. This appears in KMap previews throughout Mandala. The caption should be under 140 characters. Make sure it's general and clear enough to identify the feature from a list.

Summaries

A summary of the important aspects of the place. This should be less than 750 characters long. If you want to translate your summary into multiple languages, each language needs its own summary. You can add more than one summary.

Illustration

A single image that is representative of the subject or place. It appears next to the summary on the main page for the Knowledge Map. Other images, including those that relate to the subject or place but do not illustrate it, can be added using Images in Mandala. Learn more about this feature with Add Illustrations to KMaps.

Feature Types

This section lets you define the type of place you're creating -- for example, a village, a mountain, etc.

Subjects

Assigns related subjects. This is also used to create child KMaps for a subject. Learn more at Add a New KMap.

Geocode

Codes or identifiers that refer to this place.

Locations

The latitude and longitude of the place. This is a single point which represents your Place on a map. If you have a GIS shapefile which represents your place, contact shanti-mandala@virginia.edu.

Altitudes

The general elevation of the place.

Feature Relations

You can assign related places here. This is also used to create child KMaps for a subject. Learn more at Add a New KMap.

Essay

This is a legacy option. You should use Texts in Mandala if you want to add a longer essay to your Knowledge Map.

Controlled Vocabularies

Name Type

Language

• Arabic
• Burmese
• Chinese
• Dzongkha
• English
• French
• German
• Hindi
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Latin
• Mongolian
• Nepali
• Pali
• Polish
• Prakrit
• Russian
• Sanskrit
• Sinhalese
• Spanish
• Thai
• Tibetan
• Unknown
• Urdu
• Vietnamese

Writing System

• Cyrillic
• Devanagari Script
• Latin Script
• Simplified Chinese Characters
• Tibetan Script
• Traditional Chinese Characters

Geocode Type

Feature Relation Type

Location-based Relationships

has the same location as 

Two features that are located in the same place.

has entirely located within it/ is entirely located in 

A geographical relationship where one feature contains the other feature in its entirety.

is the partial location of/ is partially located in

• Places that are partially located in several places, or

• Places that contain parts of other places.

If a place is entirely contained by another feature, use the "is contained by" relationship.

You might be unsure if the place is entirely contained in another place. This might happen for historical units, where you're uncertain about boundaries. In this case, use 'partially located in' to show this uncertainty.

Example:

A historical polity covers a geographical area within part of four contemporary counties. This historical polity's area doesn't completely cover any of the counties. The historical polity 'is partially located in' each of these four counties.

intersects with

Two features that overlap. You may not be sure about the exact relationship between two regions, but know that they overlap in geographical territory at least partially. In this case, we recommend "is the partial location of", not "intersects with." If you think "intersects with" is preferable in your case, let us know. We'll include your case as an example in this documentation.

Example: 

A natural area, river, or mountain which spans multiple administrative units, all of which it “intersects with.”

is adjacent to

Two places which share a border. If they're close to each other but don't share a border, use “is near.”

is near

 Two features near to each other.

Example: 

A tourist site may be "near to" another tourist site. By including this relationship, you can help viewers plan trips.

is centered in/ has centered in it

 A place centrally located in another place. This is independent of whether or not a places is "partially located in" another place.

Example:

• The contemporary Degé County was historically Degé Kingdom. The full extent of the historical Dege Kingdom, however, is not covered by the county and includes other contemporary administrative units. Since Dege County covers the core geographical area of the Kingdom, Degé Kingdom "is centered in" the modern administrative unit Degé County.

  To properly record the relationship, note that Degé Kingdom is also "partially located in" Degé County. This makes it clear that the contemporary county doesn't contain the full extent of the kingdom.

Cultural Relationships

has as an instantiation (has.as.an.instantiation)/ is an instantiation of (is.an.instantiation.of): an instantiation of a metaphysical feature.

Examples: 

• Padmasambhava’s Copper Colored mountain is a pure land located outside of our ordinary geography, but there are many temples across the plateau understood to exemplify that pure land. These temples are “instantiations” of Padmasambhava’s Copper Colored mountain.

• Many of the great Buddhist cult mountains are considered “instantiations” of the great mandala of the Buddhist deity Cakrasa?vara.

• A McDonald's restaurant is an "instantiation" of McDonald's as a corporate entity.

has as a part (has.as.a.part)/ is part of (is.part.of): A relationship where one place is part of another, but not in a hierarchical or administrative manner. Places with this relationship usually (but not always) have the same feature type. If one place is part of another in a hierarchical or administrative way, use "has entirely located within it/is entirely located in."

Example: 

• Cultural regions can have one large cultural region and many smaller cultural regions that are "part of" it. The Degé cultural region "is part of" the Kham cultural region.

• A mountain "is part of" a mountain range.

• An individual field "is part of" a farm or estate (whether the field is contiguous with the farm/estate or not)

• Use "has entirely located within it/is entirely located in it" to specify a village is part of a township, NOT "has as a part/is part of"

administers (administers)/ is administered by (is.administered.by): an administrative relationship between two places.

Examples:

• A contemporary township within a county. Albermarle County "administers" Charlottesville. In this case, the authority of the county over the city is more important than the fact that Albermarle County contains Charlottesville geographically.

• Don't use: for a village located inside a township. Instead, use "is entirely located in" or "is contained by."

• Don't use: for a mountain (or other geographical feature) located inside a town. The town does not actively administer the mountain; this is different from a county that administers the town.

has as an administrative seat (has.as.an.administrative.seat)/ is the administrative seat of (is.administrative.seat.of): the relationship a nation, historical polity, or political administrative unit has with its capitals or seats.

administrative headquarters of (is.administrative.headquarters.of)/ has as an administrative headquarters (has.as.an.administrative.headquarters): the relationship between an entity (corporation, school district, or other) and its headquarters.

is mother of (is.mother.of)/ is child of (is.child.of): 

is succeeded by (is.succeeded.by)/ succeeds (succeeds): use this relationship when a place succeeds another place. Succession implies both a fundamental difference and a fundamental continuity. Succession also implies that the one feature has supplanted the previous feature. In many cases:

• both places (the original and the suceeding place) have the same name

• one place succeeds the other immediately in time

The 'is succeeded by/succeeds' relationship is independant of location. This means the geographical area covered by the two places can vary. Here are some possibilities :

• both places cover roughly the same geographical area

• the original place is larger than the successor

• the original place is larger than the successor, and the successor covers the core area of the preceding feature

You can use other relationships to describe the geographical location relation between the original place and the successor.

Example: 

• A kingdom is reduced to a county in a new political formation. The county "succeeds" the kingdom.

is owner of (owns)/is owned by (is.owned.by): a relationship of ownership or property

Example:

• a monastery owns a city residence

• an estate owns a field

is affiliated with (is.affiliated.with): a non-hierarchal relationship between two places. In this relationship, neither place is 'subordonate' to the other.

Example:

• Political allies are affiliated with each other.

• Sacred sites can be linked non-hierarchically.

• Poggio a Caiano in Italy is a 'sister city' of Charlottesville in the USA. Poggio a Caiano is affiliated to Charlottesville.

is in conflict with (is.in.conflict.with): represents a relationship of conflict

Example: 

• two polities at war, or in more low-level conflict.

is related to (is.related.to): this is a generic expression of relationship between two places. Use this when none of the other more specific relationship types apply.

Picture Type