> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://digital-carleton.gitbook.io/digital-mapping-for-humanists/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://digital-carleton.gitbook.io/digital-mapping-for-humanists/unfinished/untitled-12/untitled-6.md).

# Mapping a Text Using Voyant

## **Introduction**

What would happen if you mapped the places from the long text or group of texts you are working with? Is it worth pursuing a geospatial approach? This recipe tells you how to throw a big text into Voyant and have it generate a map of the places, just to see what it might look like.

‌[Voyant](https://voyant-tools.org/) describes itself as a “web-based reading and analysis environment for digital texts.” It offers a number of visualization tools, including [Dreamscape](https://voyant-tools.org/docs/#!/guide/dreamscape), “an experimental tool for exploring geospatial aspects of texts.” This recipe gets you started using the Dreamscape tool.

The information on Dreamscape comes with warnings not to trust the data. Serious geospatial results would require a lot of “cleaning” or preparatory work on the text you want to study. The following recipe is about throwing some text into the tool to see what happens as a quick way to find out whether mapping is a useful way to look at a large text. If it seems helpful, I suspect that you would want to move to a different tool that gave you more control.

## **Ingredients**

1. A digital text or corpus of texts \[see digital texts page] in a language that Voyant supports
2. ‌Time! \[the tool is slow]. There does not appear to be a % complete or other counter to tell you how much longer it will take to complete.
3. Note that you can return to your work if you use the [bookmark](https://voyant-tools.org/docs/#!/guide/start) feature to create a URL; be aware that Voyant says that your work “generally speaking” remains accessible if you access it once a month.
4. A [tutorial](https://voyant-tools.org/docs/#!/guide/tutorial) on using Voyant is available

## **How to do it**

‌

1. Go to Voyant’s [main page](https://voyant-tools.org/) and upload a digital text following the instructions in the box.
2. Click “reveal”
3. The default view offers you different “panes” showing results from different Voyant tools.
4. You will need to hover on the upper right of a pane to see the controls, including a window pane icon with a text description “click to choose another tool for this panel location.” Click that.
5. From the menu, choose Visualization Tools => Dreamscape
6. You will see a watercolor basemap and places will begin to load.
7. Explore the Display menu at the bottom to change base maps, projections and other features.

Example Map

![](/files/-LqCZsMWONTuNZoh-1jl)

## **How it works**

A detailed explanation of what happened in the previous section, so we are not perpetuating technology "black boxes" but helping people understand how to take control.

This section can include code snippets of CSS, JavaScript, Python, etc.

as appropriate

## **Further Resources**

This section can be used to give additional information to make the reader more knowledgeable about specific aspects of the recipe, or provide helpful links to other useful information.


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