07 August 2014
Success - maps 100% georeferenced
In just 28 days from release, 3,220 maps have been geo-located online by participants in the BL Georeferencer project. For this quantity of maps to be completed at such a speed is truly impressive, and testifies to much scrutiny of maps and online research by many people.
On behalf of the British Library, I'd like to thank the volunteers that contributed their time and energy over the last four weeks to make this happen (the top 25 are recognised here). Our two star participants, Maurice Nicholson and Susan Major, have once again shone; both assigned approximately 12,500 control points. Their commitment to this project, for this release and those before, has been remarkable, as has the work of many, many other contributors!
The maps have started to be added to Wikimedia Commons in their own British Library Georeferencer subset, thanks to the efforts of Wikipedia's user Jheald and others, providing another point of access in addition to the original Flickr British Library maps subset. Both contain links to the overlays in BL Georeferencer; the geospatial metadata (world files) are available from within the application. Together, this enables full and free download and use of these public domain images and metadata.
We have come a long way since our very first release of maps via BL Georeferencer in February 2012. One year ago, we could boast "only" 2,236 maps georeferenced maps online; since then 6,000 more have been added. As soon as the public can identify and tag another substantial chunk of maps from amongst the images in Flickr (here) or Wikimedia (here), we'll follow this up with more!
In the meantime, check out the placed maps here, where they can be accessed geographically, until they are reviewed by our expert panel for quality, and then added to the Old Maps Online portal with other collections of online historic maps.
29 July 2014
Tricky maps
We are in the last quarter of maps of this BL Georeferencer release. I always like to review at this stage what has been accomplished and what remains. The maps left can be the most difficult ones, so those who like a challenge and want to undertake some tricky online research, this is your time!
Some of my picks for greatest challenges:
Hand drawn! Transliterated from a non-Roman alphabet! On its side!
This map is from W.J. Reid's account of his exploration of western China and eastern Tibet, Through Unexplored Asia. It depicts a mountainous and relatively remote area in central China. There are not a great number of placenames for this area in online maps, and even these may not be spelled the same as the handwritten map labels. Thanks to the volunteer ("digger"), who solved it by using the lat-long references on the map.
I should add that no-one likes a map on its side - one participant said "Help me please, before I need to visit my chiropractor"! Unfortunately, because these maps were semi-automatically extracted from the texts and posted online, this is not an option for now.
Early mapping! Medieval script! Book in Hungarian!
This map is a reproduction of a medieval map within an 1895 book in Hungarian, A magyar nemzet tortenete.
Unless the map is already familiar to them, the participant will need to read the Hungarian text and decipher the map's medieval handwriting to place it - not a straightforward demand. (This one is still available, so Hungarian-speaking medievalist georeferencers, come forward!)
For every difficult map, however, there may be numerous more familiar ones.
This map of Essex is one of 46 from the 1813 Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom.
If you've a talent for geography and curiosity about historic places and spaces, your input to BL Georeferencer will be valuable indeed. There are 762 maps remaining, waiting to be placed!
14 July 2014
Maps in 19th-century books - what has been georeferenced
We are pleased with the amazing progress georeferencing the maps released last week in BL Georeferencer. In just five days, 30 percent - nearly 1,000 - of the maps were placed.
This set of mainly 19th-century maps from books is a fine representation of publishing activity and reader interests at the time. The publishing industry had grown and diversified to what we recognise today, and popular topics included: travel; geography textbooks and school atlases; histories; and contemporary exploration and military accounts. The maps are familiar, but eminently of their time.
(The Competitive Geography Fourth ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1874. British Library Shelfmark HMNTS 10005.bb.3. Download pdf of atlas online)
A surge of school atlases were published in Britain during the 1800s to educate the young, and it is no surprise that the British Empire figures largely. The above detail of "Sketch map of South Africa" is from page 419 of The Competitive Geography. The British Territories are named in the text as Cape Colony, Griqaaland West, Natal, and the Transvaal. Note “New Scotland”.
Contemporary accounts of military actions and histories, which usually featured maps and diagrams of troop movements and positions, also feature.
From the uniquely-titled History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the final restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877.
The overlay above indicates the locations of infantry and artillery during the first battle of Manassas (1861), a determinate early conflict in the US Civil War. The area is now a National Park, and those boundaries, along with the crossroads, make the present-day area appear releatively unchanged.
Part of the Carlist Wars in the Basque region of Spain, this “Plan of the town and vicinity of Bilbao, showing the positions occupied by the besiegers, during the siege of Oct 23rd – Dec 25th 1836" also derives from a published personal account, Six Years in Biscay: comprising a personal narrative of the sieges of Bilbao in June 1835... during the years 1830 to 1837.
While the city and course of the river have changed hugely since the 1830s, the contours indicating mountains on the original map match to the shaded ridge visible in the Google Terrain base layer of BL Georeferencer below, making the location apparent.
To explore what maps from 19th-century books are available to georeference, and search for yourself, visit the British Library maps subset in Flickr. There are links to georeference from below each image included in this release. See what you can discover and place!
To see the maps already placed, go to BL Georeferencer.
09 July 2014
New lot of maps for georeferencing - release TODAY
Help us identify the locations of historic maps by participating in the largest release yet of BL Georeferencer. Over 3,100 maps, previously hidden within the pages of 17th, 18th, and 19th century books, are now available to georeference and overlay on modern mapping at
This set consists of the maps that the Library released to the public domain via Flickr. All the illustrations in the books scanned by Microsoft - which included the themes of travel and geography - were extracted from the texts; once the images were posted to Flickr, the public assigned tags. Over the months that the tagging went on, we were thrilled to find a huge amount were maps, but are left with the question: "where in the world...?"
We have alot of work to do. Please help us identify the locations of these maps by participating in this release of BL Georeferencer!
21 February 2014
Historic maps in the public domain
Maps contained within the pages of 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century books are still being unearthed. Of the one million images that the Library extracted from scanned volumes and explosed on Flickr Commons, over 2,100 have already been tagged as maps by the public!
As these map images are in the public domain and so open for reuse, we've seen new interpretations, further exposure, and interesting geospatial applications. For instance, John Leighton's 1895 diagrammatic map of London Indexed in Two-Mile Hexagons has been brought up to date and into space in this dynamic visualisation created for International Open Data Day tomorrow in Osaka City, Japan. Though I've been warned that this is a work-in-progress, it is impressive already; the newly geo-aware index is interactively linked to its 18 component hexagonal maps, with the current location in OpenStreetMap appearing alongside. Ollie described the purpose of Leighton's mapping scheme in his Mapping London blog post in December. The results of making these maps available just keep getting better.
Work-in-progress at http://museum-media.jp/london/
Leighton's index map, the 18 component maps, and other images from the book
Here at the Library we're anticipating opening up the 2,100+ maps for public georeferencing. Once all of the one million images get tagged with keywords in Flickr, those identified as maps will be consolidated and released via BL Georeferencer. Please lend a hand by finding and tagging any maps among the remaining images!
10 January 2014
Done! 2,700 maps georeferenced by volunteers
Earlier this week, georeferencing of the Library's collection of first-edition Goad mapping of British and Irish towns was completed!
In just seven weeks, the work of a great many people brought order and place to what was previously simply 2,700 digital image files. The precise location of each scanned map - for the over 50 cities and towns mapped by the Chas. E Goad firm 1886-1930 - is now known. Places small (Goole, covered in just three maps) and large were included, with the giant of London making up more than 1,000 maps, as shown in below graphic. All maps may be accessed here.
"Thank you" to all the BL Georeferencer participants, and in particular to two volunteers who, since the release of 20 November, have contributed an outstanding amount of time and effort. Dr Susan Major added over 10,000 control points to the Goad maps, and in addition played an active role in offering feedback and suggestions. Maurice Nicholson, a past Top Contributor, submitted the most points for the military maps, and his contributions to Goad were second only to Susan.
What's next? We have a team of volunteer reviewers - dedicated participants invited to review for their skill and expertise - to quality-check submitted metadata. Maps requiring further work will be released back to the crowd, so expect to see maps become available over the next few weeks and months. Check back at http://www.bl.uk/maps/
23 December 2013
What are these bits of maps?
Georeferencing the Library's Goad plans of British and Irish towns is progressing well. I've been asked several times, however, about the miniscule slices of maps that we're asking you to place. What are these obscure and tiny pieces of maps, and how to tell where they are located?Pieces such as above are portions of original paper map sheets as published by Chas. E. Goad Ltd. When a block or other important area extended beyond the bounds of the page, it was simply printed elsewhere on the sheet, with a reference to its location. This was done for reasons of economy; key areas could be included without adding to the cost of paper and printing. In the sheet below, the dark outline indicates an inset, with the block number "8" identifying its location on the main map.
So how can a user of BL Georeferencer know what sheet a bit appears on? All insets are linked to the main map page on which they appear. Choose the "This Map" tab within the Georeferencer application. By clicking "Original web presentation", the bit is shown on the larger map sheet which will include a reference to its location.
These map "bits" are important to place in order to provide the full available mapping of an area! Above image of the Deptford Bridge area of London shows the "bit" adjacent to its location on the main map sheet.
Once properly georeferenced, these small pieces will continue and complete the maps in their correct places - an eloquent solution to the problem of viewing insets on paper maps!
Try out BL Georeferencer if you are up for a visual, geographic, and historic challenge. Locating the remaining pieces is a like solving a Victorian map puzzle!
20 November 2013
2,700 new maps online for georeferencing
Those with an interest in the history of industrial Britain and the urban landscape will be pleased to hear: Goad fire insurance plans are now online and available for georeferencing. These maps are a mine of information about the towns and cities of late 19th-century and early 20th-century Britian and Ireland, capturing practical elements such as individual addresses and building footprints, as well as the overall character of a place in terms of class, space and the built environment.
These Goad plans were selected for scanning and inclusion in the latest release of BL Georeferencer because of the huge demand for them at the Library. We're asking the public to help "place" them, ie identify their locations by assigning points using modern mapping. It can be a challenge, but it is an opportunity to discover familiar areas as they existed around 100 years ago.
This detail of Sheet 42 of the City of Manchester illustrates the richness of information on the maps. These densely partitioned street is home to warehousing and a variety of industrial activity, cheek-by-jowl with small tenement housing units. Detail about the individual buildings: their materials, the number of floors, windows, and building use, is outstanding. See the map legend, online exhibition and curator's notes, and guide on the Library's holdings for further information about this collection.
The first edition Goad maps of all British and Irish towns, 1886-1930, are now online. Georeferencing opens today; you can be assigned a Goad map at random, or start by selecting a place.
Maps and views blog recent posts
- George III's maps and views: 32,000 images released on Flickr Commons
- Adding 1,277 East African maps to Georeferencer
- Maps on the British Library's Online Gallery: update
- The K.Top: 18,000 digitised maps and views released
- Goad Maps on Layers of London
- Another big list of where to find British Library maps online
- A list of where to find free-to-access digitised British Library maps
- Hooked on Georeferencing
- Less of a Random Mapper: a new feature for Georeferencer
- Money for old charts: printing maps in the nineteenth century
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