historical maps

Maps and Cartography

Land cover of the area under study in the 1st Military Survey map in the lowland area of Nové Dvory and Zehusice, Czech Republic. Source: Skaloš et al., 2011.

GIS and Modern Research from Historical Maps

August 28, 2016By Mark AltaweelMaps and Cartography

While GIS offers a way to digitize detailed historical records and maps, it can also provide a new way to understand history and trends over time.

Georeference Goad map from the British Library.

British Library Crowdsources 2,700 Maps for Georeferencing

January 11, 2014By Caitlin DempseyMaps and Cartography

Launched back in February of 2012, the British Library started a pilot project to engage the public in help the library to georerefence a portion of its extensive digital maps collection. The British Library recently announced the successful completion of its efforts to have more than 2,700 maps georeferenced for […]

California as an Island – Map Collection Now Online

September 4, 2013By Caitlin DempseyMaps and Cartography

Stanford has announced that the Glen McLaughlin Map Collection of California as an Island is now available online. Glen McLaughlin collected almost 800 maps specifically about California as an island over a period of 40 years. The maps were acquired by Stanford University in December of 2011 and is the largest known […]

Georeferencing Map Project at the British Library.

British Library Launches Crowdsourcing Map Georeferencing Program

January 28, 2012By Caitlin DempseyMaps and Cartography

The British Library has launched a pilot project to engage the public’s help in geoferencing historical maps. A sample of 725 maps of England and Wales from the 18th and 19th century (from the Ordnance Survey Drawings, 1780-1840) along with with large-scale street plans of London from 1560 to 1860 (from the the Crace […]

Where to Look for Historical Maps

January 28, 2012By Harold HuntMaps and Cartography

The use of extracting data from old paper maps is growing in popularity as a method to understanding historical geography. David Ramsey popularized the method of georectifying historical maps and draping those maps over a DEM to create a 3D view. Pastmapper is a project that digitizes historical maps in […]

Best of GIS: Notable 2011 Geospatial Happenings

December 10, 2011By Caitlin DempseyGIS Learning

It’s been a very long time since I’ve done a “best of GIS” year end review. Listed below are some of what I have found to be the more exciting and sometimes just plain fun happenings and advances in the GIS and greater geospatial field for the year 2011 […]

Topo Map of Escalante Quadrant, Utah from 1886.

Over 120 Years of Mapping History Online

September 12, 2011By Caitlin DempseyMaps and Cartography

The USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection currently makes over 98,000 maps dating as far back as 1884 available to the public.

The USGS Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) Program

Landsat data is available for download from EarthExplorer for the conterminous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii referenced using the WGS84 datum and provided as GeoTIFF data

Preserving a Landscape Through Maps and Photography

Knowing how to preserve books, film and other information is common practice for libraries and museums. Maps, especially, can showcase that data for those who want to look back on the history of an area.

Elements of a Map

Maps are the primary tools by which spatial relationships are visualized. Maps therefore become important documents. There are several key elements that should be included each time a map is created in order to aid the viewer in understanding the communications of that map and to document the source of […]

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