digital history: space, place and the city: a simple anti-gis approach for historians

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Richard Rodger, Stuart Nicol, Chris Fleet, Daniel Henrie

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Objectives

1. To create a set of geo-referenced historical maps of Edinburgh

2. To reach a broader public

3. To develop open source software - avoid GIS!4. To develop dynamic maps, graphs, diagrams,

relating of Edinburgh, so as to further the understanding of 19th and 20th century cities

= Pilot or Proof of Concept Project

http://geo.nls.uk/urbhist/

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How did we go about this?

5 elements

1. Resources2. Map Builder3. Thematic Mapping4. ‘How to’ Guides5. Case Studies

http://geo.nls.uk/urbhist/

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1. Resource Development

• Maps scanned and geo-referenced

• Boundaries Registration, ward, and sanitary districtsExtension of the Royalty boundary; municipal area Chronological map of EdinburghKirkwood 1817 property ownersBoundaries available in zip, shape and kml formats

Resources

Geo-referenced maps of Edinburgh (1765-1950) freely available as:

Tile Map Services JPEGs/JPW KML Web Mapping Services

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Digitised and Geo-referenced Maps of Edinburgh

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William EDGARCity and Castle of Edinburgh 1765

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William EDGARCity and Castle of Edinburgh 1765

Edgar, 1765

Kincaid, 1784

Ainslie, 1804

Kirkwood, 1817

Kirkwood, 1821

Wood, 1831

Ordnance Survey, 1852-3

Ordnance Survey, 1876-7

Ordnance Survey, 1893-4

Bartholomew, 1939-40

Ordnance Survey, 1945-50

Bartholomew’s Chronological Map of Edinburgh as KML Superoverlay

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Bartholomew’s Chronological Map, 1919

chrono map

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2 Mapbuilder : address based history

census organised by household local taxation system based on a property valuation

shareholders and bank accounts linked to an address criminal records vehicle registration; driving licences your store card and credit card statements, advertising, business address utility bills for proof of residence

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2.1 Mapbuilder: Geocoder

1 My spreadsheet: cleaning up the data

2 Running the geo-coder

3 Plotting the points on a historical map

4 Results: historical interpretation

geocode

solicitors

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2.2 Mapbuilder: area, distance, elevation

• James Colville, the Edinburgh Cooperative Building Company Ltd., the ‘Colonies’ and his walk to work in the 1870s

• James Steel 1869 - Easter Dalry feu

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Mapbuilder: area, distance, elevation

1 Distance =0.78km = 780m = 845 yards

2 Area = 0.04 km2

3 Elevation = 62-69 metres

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2.3 Map Builder: Customising

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2.3 Map Builder: Customising

Boundaries

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Kirkwood 1817

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Plan of the City of

Edinburgh and its Environs

containing all the recent and

intended improvements

Kirkwood 1817

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Kirkwood 1817

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Edinburgh Landowners 1872

12 Largest landowners(excluding the Crown)

residing in

acres gross annual value (£)

Heriot’s Hospital, Gov Edinburgh 180 4770

Edinburgh City, LP etc Edinburgh 167 6983

North British Railway Co Edinburgh 111 23199

Trs. Charles Rocheid Oxford 96 698

Trs Sir William Fettes Edinburgh 92 1241

Lt Col A Learmonth, MP London 83 2455

Sir George Warrender Edinburgh 74 908

Sir Thomas Dick-Lauder London 68 1066

Watson’s School, Gov Edinburgh 53 1718

Caledonian Railway Co Edinburgh 44 10363

Caledonian Ins. Co Edinburgh 42 1561

Mrs M C Agnew Clifton 36 856

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Municipal Wards and Registration Districts 1856-82 and 1905

Municipal Wards and Registration Districts 1856-82 and 1905

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Downloadable Maps

Free to use geo-referenced

maps of Edinburgh

Geo-referenced maps in Jpg/Jgw format and Web

Map Service (WMS) layers to use in Georeferencing

Applications, and KML to view in Google Earth.

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3. Thematic Mapping Engine

Families per household

Uses boundary based areas (districts, wards, constituencies) in conjunction with related statistical information to develop new historical maps

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Thematic Mapping

The Thematic mapping API(Application Programming Interface) is a JavaScript library that enables you to create thematic maps from your own data.

The API combines boundary and statistical data to create thematic maps in Google Earth format (KML).

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How did we go about this?

5 elements

1. Resources2. Map Builder3. Thematic Mapping4. ‘How to’ Guides5. Case Studies

http://geo.nls.uk/urbhist/

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4 Guides/Help

• Mapbuilder

• Geo-referencing

http://geo.nls.uk/urbhist/

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Guides/Help

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Mapbuilder

• Geo-referencing

• Drawing

• Online publishing

Guides

Guides for: georeferencing maps transforming maps between projections drawing lines and points putting georeferenced maps online

…using ArcGIS and QGIS for desktop use

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Georeferencing using Quantum GIS (QGIS)

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Georeferencing using Quantum GIS (QGIS)

- Transforming the image and exporting the finished georeferenced map

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Georeferencing using Quantum GIS (QGIS)

- Viewing and editing Control Points

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5 Case Studies:

I have addresses in a spreadsheet, how can I find where those addresses are on the map?

In the Map Builder application you will find a Map Addresses tool that enables you to copy and paste addresses from a spreadsheet, locate them on a map and export the results in Google Earth format.

I’ve mapped my addresses and saved them to my computer. How can I publish the KML file to the web?

Google Sites allows you to create and edit web pages. It’s free, and you can upload any type of file and make it available on the Internet. Once you've completed the simple steps outlined here, you will have a public, personalised web presence for your KML files.

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Case Studies:

How can I view my addresses on historic maps?

How can I create a Google Account?

Google Sites accounts are linked to Google accounts. If you have a Google account, log in at http://pages.google.com. If not, go to http://mail.google.com/mail/signup and sign up for one. Then go to http://sites.google.com and create a site.

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Case Studies: From the Borders to Berlin

1. Berlin squatters: where were they in the 1970s and 1980s?2. Borders parish relief in Jedburgh and Melrose in the 19th C

3. James Connolly’s life: key locations4. Female Moneylenders in Liverpool 1930s5. Civil Society in Leicester: club memberships 1950-20006. Edinburgh Trades and Labour Council annual report, 1920-217. 40 student projects on social history of 19th C Edinburgh8. Dundee prostitution in the inter-war years

So you want to map your address-based or boundary based data?

GO FOR IT!

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Richard Rodger, Stuart Nicol, Chris Fleet, Daniel Henrie