As we just saw, water systems can take the scale of an object, a region or even a nation. Depending on the scale, we see different groups of people –stakeholders involved with the water system. We also saw how over time, traditional communities living with water were replaced by large public institutions. What used to be historic ways of living with water have disappeared.

Heritage institutions argue that historical systems and historical ways of living with water are relevant for the present sustainable development of areas. To support this argument, specific knowledge about water systems and how they change in space and over time is needed. Geo-spatial mapping can be a good way of capturing the spatial implications of water systems on a landscape level over time.