Guest editor's introduction: The importance of place and openness in spatial humanities research

Digital Humanities (DH) is a dynamic and developing field. In recent years, its evolution has been witnessed foremost in the growth of funded DH projects and through the willingness of scholars from diverse backgrounds to not only work in DH research, but also as 'digital humanists'. One crucial component to DH research is that of spatial enquiry, the expansion of which has rapidly evolved from a small component often found buried in research objectives, to the research aim of a growing number of projects. Spatial humanities, while still a relatively new interdisciplinary field, is exhibiting continued advancement and focus from the academic community; however, working with digital data is rarely a straightforward pursuit, even for the most accomplished scholar. Primarily access to appropriate and reliable (spatial) datasets, the keystone of spatial humanities research, the sharing and openness of spatial methods, tools and data (SMTD), and education in the former, all remain a challenge.