About the Earth Deity Shrines Dataset - First Edition

Prepared by James X. Morris, PhD, on 22 April 2024 at the Data Collaboration and Digital Preservation Laboratory at the Center for Information Technology Innovation (CITI) and Institute of Information Science (IIS) at Academia Sinica, Taipei

This dataset has been compiled between 2015 and 2024, representing 752 community tutelary earth deity shrines in the greater Taipei region. This region is defined loosely as the Taipei basin, the slopes surrounding the basin, the Tamsui river estuary, and the lower courses of the Tamsui River’s tributaries (the Dahan River, The Xindian River, and the Keelung River). This area of study represents areas of Taipei City, New Taipei City, and portions of Keelung City and Taoyuan City.

Each shrine has been assigned a Site I.D. number. Data from each site has been digitized and saved in a directory with a corresponding number. The object of publicizing this first edition is to establish a “proof of concept” for this project. Therefore, this available dataset represents only a portion of the data collected. A second edition will be far more robust.

The dataset exists as both an .XLSX and .CSV spreadsheet and a series of .ZIP directory files of corresponding visual reference photographs of each shrine. The .CSV file can be uploaded into GIS software for spatial exploration. In its present form, it allows users to filter for certain indexed traits and combinations that can reveal patterns revealed through these shrines. Shrine photographs are labeled utilizing the following convention based roughly on the first several indexical categories in the spreadsheet:  [Site ID]_[City Code]_[District]_[Community Name(s)]_[Displayed Temple Name]_[photographer]_[original file name]. 

The following index categories can be read from the spreadsheet:

	•	Site ID: a unique identifying number given to each unique shrine site.  
	•	City: a three-letter city code for the cities in which research has been conducted. 
	•	Li Name: the name of the lowest-level official administrative unit in which the site is located. 
	•	Community Name: if a shrine or its worship group is associated with a traditional place name or has adopted a name for its community. 
	•	Secondary Community Name: if a shrine is associated with another name that can be attributed to the site or community. 
	•	Temple Name: the displayed name of the temple. 
	•	Market Shrine: whether a shrine is specifically associated with a market or not. 
	•	On Temple Grounds: whether a shrine is found on the grounds of a larger temple. 
	•	Host Temple Name: the name of the larger temple if a shrine is found on its grounds. 
	•	Latitude and longitude: decimalized position of the site using WGS-84 geodesic system. 
	•	Documented by: identifies the name of the primary researcher 
	•	Notes: qualitative and quantitative commentary about the site and data collection methodology. 

Chinese characters have also been provided for several of these categories, but do not represent a full transcription of all data. Only the categories of Li Name, Main Deity Name, and Host Temple Name have been transcribed for all sites (001 through 752).