Links
Web-based Historical GIS Projects
This is not an exhaustive list. It is meant only to point to the kinds of work that are being done in web-based historical GIS. Fuller lists, including ongoing and proposed projects, can be found at the Association of American Geographers Historical GIS Clearinghouse and Forum, and at the UK-based Historical GIS Research Network.
Beyond Steel
This project is comprised of the early twentieth-century Sanborn fire insurance maps, Sholes' Directory of the Bethlehems, 1900-1901, 1900-1902 Bethlehem Steel employee lists, a contemporary database of streets, and selected information from the 1900 Census report. The result is a geospatial presentation of turn of the century Bethlehem population and a context for more specialized visualization of workers in the steel industry.
The Boston Atlas
The Boston Redevelopment Authority’s public internet mapping application includes data from many city agencies (building footprints, planning areas, land parcels, streets) which can be combined with aerial photography and historical maps.
David Rumsey Map Collection
Historical maps of the American Cities (San Francisco, Boston, Washington, New York posted; others to follow). Current geospatial data (roads, lakes, parks, boundaries, aerial photos) can be overlaid and compared to the historical. Many of these maps may also be viewed in a Google Earth viewer.
Digital Harlem, Daily Life 1915-1930
The Digital Harlem website presents information, drawn from legal records, newspapers and other archival and published sources, about everyday life in New York City's Harlem neighborhood in the years 1915-1930.
HyperCities
HyperCities is a collaborative research and educational platform for traveling back in time to explore the historical layers of city spaces. The site has geo-referenced historical maps for Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Rome, Lima, Ollantaytambo, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Tehran, Saigon, Toyko, Shanghai, Seoul, with many more (big and small) to come.
Mapping Dubois
This research, education, and outreach project is dedicated to using new technology and archival data to recreate the survey W.E.B. Du Bois conducted of Philadelphia's Seventh Ward for his 1899 classic book, The Philadelphia Negro.
PhilaGeo History Maps Viewer
The PhilaGeo site contains thousands of old maps, property atlases, city directories, industrial site surveys, and other items documenting the history, growth, and development of the city from the 1600s through today. A selection of these are geo-referenced for the online viewer.
PhilaPlace
PhilaPlace is an interactive Web site, created by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which connects stories to places across time in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. PhilaPlace uses historical maps and multimedia – including text, pictures, audio and video clips, and podcasts – to allow visitors to map their own stories in place and time.
The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
A collection of primary source materials relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692, including and a new transcription of the court records, historical maps, and the Salem Witchcraft GIS
Spatial History Project
Stanford’s Spatial History Project host a number of ongoing collaborative projects, including Shaping the West (American railroads), Terrain of History (Rio de Janiero), Critical Habitat (American west and environment), Between the Tides (San Francisco), Holocaust Geographies, Mapping Vice in Early Twentieth-Century Philadelphia, and Chile's Aquaculture Industry, 1950-2000.
The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War
Details slavery, politics, religion, battles, infrastructure, topography, agriculture and everyday life in two Civil-war era towns through archived letters, diaries, newspapers, census and church records.
Data and Map Sources
ARC GIS Online
On online library of digital mapping services, including many downloadable map layers and a web-based mapping application (this service replaced the older ESRI_sponosred Geography Network).
Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
The Atlas is a project of the William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture at the Newberry Library in Chicago. It is a reference work designed to provide information about the creation and boundary changes of every county in the United States, from the earliest county creation in the 1600s to 2000. Downloadable state files include a master shapefile, metadata, comprehensive database, and historical chronologies of boundary changes.
Digital Sanborn Maps
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are large scale property surveys, originally used to estimate the potential risk for urban structures. They includes information such as the outline of each building, the size, shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location of windows and doors. The maps also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers. Over 600,000 maps offer coverage of most American cities, in multiple editions from the late nineteenth century through the middle of the 20th. The digital maps can be viewed on screen or downloaded as high-resolution PDF files. Collection is site licensed to academic and public libraries, and requires login from other computers.
GeoData.Gov
Through this “Geospatial One-Stop portal,” anyone can access geospatial information from Federal agencies and a growing number of state, local, tribal and private agencies.
Harvard Geospatial Library
A collection of 6,871 worldwide and regional geographic data layers, scanned historic maps and associated descriptive information that can be searched, mapped online, and downloaded for use for use with GIS software.
Historical Census Browser
The University of Virginia’s census browser also offers an on-screen mapping application for 1790-1960 data, although only for the state and county level.
Iowa Geographic Map Server
Includes the general land office survey of 1836-1859, historic vegetation, and aerial photos from the 1930s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. These are downloadable as geo-referenced images or available via a WMS server. Many of these maps are also available via the Natural Resources Geographic Information System (NRGIS) Library developed and maintained by the GIS Section of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Iowa Maps Digital Collection
Digital (but not geo-referenced) maps offered through a collaboration of the Map Collection, University of Iowa Libraries, the State Historical Society of Iowa (Iowa City), and the University of Iowa Archives. Includes historical county atlases and plat maps.
MAGIC
The University of Connecticut’s Map and Geographic Information Center has a large collection of digitized historical maps of Connecticut, Northeast United States, New England, and United States. Most can be downloaded at high-resolution; the center is working on geo-referenced versions for Google Earth.
National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS)
The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) provides, free of charge, aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2000.
Social Explorer
Social Explorer is a web-based application that creates fast, intuitive, and visually appealing maps and reports from census data, 1790-2000. The coverage is essentially the same as that of NHGIS.
St. Louis Documents and Maps
St. Louis Heritage and History
Includes text and plates from 1947 comprehensive plan, Norbury Wayman neighborhood histories, and historical city planning reports.
The Wayman Map
Norbury Wayman’s remarkable map documents each subdivision, addition, and re-subdivision of property in the city of St. Louis from 1816 through 1967. The digital version (from the original at the Missouri Historical Society) is the work of Washington University’s Metropolitan Research Design Center and Prof. Jacqueline Tatom.
St. Louis Public Library, Maps of Missouri Collection
Approximately 100 maps of Missouri cities, towns, counties and the state are included in the exhibit.
Missouri History Museum
The Missouri History Museum Digital Content Collection contains images of selected items from the library, archives, photograph, and museum collections, including books, pamphlets, letters, maps, photographs, and museum artifacts.
St. Louis County GIS Service Center
Online access to interactive maps and wide array of regional GIS resources.
City of St. Louis Interactive Mapping Resource
East-West Gateway GIS Services
Large collection of democgrapic, environmental, and transporation maps from the region’s lead planning agency.
