| Abstract
|
:
|
This thesis focuses on an intuitive and robust GIS (Geographic Information systems) tool, which gives an overview of religions in Middle East Asia. Part of the motivation for this thesis was curiosity to find answers to why castes and sub-castes were created from the same religion, a division which often resulted in clashes or war amongst the people of the same religion (but different castes or sub-caste). The recent war in Middle East Asia is one such example. Focus on the Middle East is due to two factors: firstly many religions were founded here with quite a few of them still being practiced to date, and secondly it has been and is still an area with many violent religious conflicts leading to wars and devastation. The tool helps end users visualize both the history and geography of the religions that were/ are being followed in Middle East Asia. Some of these religions originated way back in 2000 BC, flourished over a period of time, and are being followed even today. But, there are other religions that collapsed over a period of time. In addition to such information, the tool also provides information on the important historical events that were responsible for the formation of any religion, and also the religious practices that these religions follow. For each religion, the tool displays the most visited religious places by its devotees, the architectural structures that are significant to these religious places, the symbols that represent the religion, the God and the significant powers that are believed to be possessed by the God. The tool uses both GIS and web pages to provide information on religions in the Middle East. Java programing language along with MOJO was used to create maps, and to represent the location of the religious places as points on the map. Web pages were created to show more information on the religion, which includes the dates and timelines, symbols that represent the religion, the important religious practices, etc. A simple and easy to use interface was designed to help end users to quickly grasp the information conveyed to them. Videos, photo tours and certain web pages were included within the tool to keep the users involved in learning about these religions.
|