Projects
ANZMapS - map viewers for putting Historical Maps Online
A set of viewers which can be used for putting Historical Maps Online.
- These viewers were put together for a half-day workshop as part of the GeoCart'2018 conference in Wellington, New Zealand, 5-7 September 2018. The workshop was kindly supported by the Australian and New Zealand Map Society.
- The workshop focused on using open-source tools, particularly OpenLayers and GeoServer, to build a set of basic map viewers.
- The viewers included those focusing on search and retrieval of maps (using clickable indexes, bounding boxes, and marker pins), and those focused on displaying georeferenced maps (with transparency sliders, split-screen viewers, spy viewers, and 3D viewers.
Frederick Douglass in Edinburgh and Scotland - map viewers
- These map viewers form part of the Our Bondage and Our Freedom project, celebrating the 200 year anniversary of the birth of African American activist and author, Frederick Douglass, in 2018.
- They include a map of the places in Edinburgh where Frederick Douglass lived, held meetings and gave speeches during his antislavery campaign.
- There are also map viewers showing Black Abolitionists in Edinburgh, and of Frederick Douglass in Scotland.
Family Portrait: the Scots-Italians 1890-1940
A map showing where Italians lived or worked in Scotland during the 1930s.
- This map has been created to accompany the free exhibition Family Portrait: The Scots Italians 1890 – 1940 at National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh, 3 December 2015 - 29 January 2016.
- The names and addresses are primarily based on the Scottish entries in the 1936 edition of the Guida Generale Degli Italiani in Gran Bretagna (General Guide to Italians in Great Britain, published in London).
GB1900 place name project
The GB1900 Project is creating a detailed list of the estimated three million place names on Ordnance Survey six-inch to the mile maps of Britain (1888-1913). The project ran between September 2016 and December 2017, successfully collecting over 3 million names by volunteers - read our press release or the GB1900 - About page for further details.
The GB1900 dot distribution maps allow the initial results of the GB1900 transcriptions to be viewed. You can zoom in on any place name, click on it, and read the name. There are also related pages allowing names needing confirming to be viewed, and initial demonstration distributions of features and names - for example, for quarries and collieries or 'Footpath' names. The dataset is freely available from the Vision of Britain data download page.
Historic Maps API
A free to use seamless historic map of Great Britain from the 1920s-40s.
This seamless historic mapping API can be:
- embedded in your own website
- used for research purposes
- used as a backdrop in your own applications
- used to create derivative work (such as OpenStreetMap) from it.
Historic Maps Subscription API
A set of detailed historic map layers for use in other websites by subscription.
The Subscription API layers provide:
- detailed historic map coverage of Great Britain and London
- very fast and reliable hosting
- quick and easy ability to incorporate inside your own web applications
- conformance with international web-mapping standards
Lesmahagow Place Names Database
A map-based interface to a detailed gazetteer of place names in the old parish of Lesmagahow
- 4,000 records which relate to over 600 place names in the old parish of Lesmagahow
- view the place names in different orders and search/filter on a text string
- click on the name to position the map at that location, and select a set of georeferenced maps, from the 12th to the 21st century, for viewing the name geographically
- useful for family history researchers, local historians, linguistic place name researchers and anyone with an interest in the area
Scotland: Defending the Nation
- This new book is a collaborative publication between Birlinn and the National Library of Scotland, with maps drawn principally from the Library's rich map collections.
- It explores Scotland's unique and fascinating military history, using six centuries of military maps of Scotland.
- Many of these maps are striking and informative, and this is the first time many have appeared in print.
Thomas Pennant map tours viewer
A viewer showing the itineraries of Thomas Pennant and his Tours to Scotland, 1769 and 1772
- Shows the three tours of Thomas Pennant to Scotland in 1769 and 1772, as well as Johnson and Boswell's tour of 1773, as a set of clickable locations, giving the dates visited for each place, the form of the name used, and the page in the relevant original tour volumes.
- The split-screen viewer allows the routes to be viewed on modern day maps, as well as compared to relevant historical maps from the 18th and 19th centuries.
- A collaborative map application with the Curious Travellers Project based at the University of Glasgow and University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Scotland - Land Use viewer
A split-screen map viewer for comparing 1930s land use with 2015 land use
- compare the 1930s Land Utilisation Survey maps for Scotland with the 2015 Historic Land-use Assessment (HLA Map) layer
- view the significant changes in the Scottish landscape in the 20th century, including afforestation, urbanisation, new reservoirs, and changes to pasture and arable land
- a collaboratiive project with Historic Environment Scotland
Visualising Urban Geographies
A project that provides mapping tools for historians.
Visualising Urban Geographies combines geo-referenced maps with historical information:
- open-source tools to allow historical source material to be interrogated, layered, visualised, and analysed
- new geo-referenced historical maps and boundaries of Edinburgh (1765-1950)
- create your own thematic maps and charts using social and economic data and boundaries
- guides for georeferencing maps, features and putting maps online