“TEAW MUANG PHRA RUANG”, THE ROYAL TRAIL, GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Abstract

This research aimed to apply Information Technology to: 1) locate places cartographically via Geomatics; 2) store and compile place names that appear in the Royal literary work Tiew Muang Phra Ruang (Phra Ruang City Journey) that follows the Royal route called the Phra Ruang Route. The Geomatic and Information Technology processes comprised of: 1) Remote sensing (RS); 2) Global PositioningSystem (GPS); 3) Geographic Information System (GIS); the geo­graphic map scale was 1:50,000 (Series Number L7017 and L7018), as used by the Royal Thai Survey Department, and the Orthophoto­map scale 1:25,000 . The names of the places from the Royal literary work were analyzed, discussed and compiled into cartographic form. Next, an inventory of the names of the places along the Royal routes, was constructed, analyzed and described to support the research. The results revealed that: 449 places were found on the journey’s route in Tiew Muang Phra Ruang from Bangkok through Nakhon­sawan, Kampaengphet, Sukhothai, Uttaradith, Pitsanuloke to Pichit, totaling 644 Kilometers; 259 names were found along the route from Kampaengphet to Sri Satchanalai; 145 places were located on the map from Kampaengphet to Sri Satchanalai. Information technology processes were found to be useful in helping to make decisions, checks and corrections, and especially to quickly achieve accuracy. Additionally, the archaeological sites that were found from the Royal literary work in 1907 were surveyed, conserved and opened up to study.