Town of Harvard, MA GIS Viewer

Take a looks at the Harvard Map Collection's interactive exhibit 'Manuscript Maps,' which explores the library's extraordinary collection of hand-drawn manuscript maps.Behind every manuscript map lies an individual’s hand. Unlike printed maps, where a combination of drafting, engraving, and printing distances particular sheets from the people who produced them, manuscript maps carry the pressure and movement of individual bodies. The weight of these individual bodies interweave the stories of individuals with the material lives of the maps themselves. In a nautical chart made of the Fiji islands, we can follow the path of the ship Sally to see the human cost of a short boom in the Sandalwood trade; in a draft of a map of US railroad systems, we can imagine a cartographer’s frustrations when we see the demands a never-satisfied author has made in the margins; in a survey of the property of the late Philip Wheeler in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, we can feel the cold of a New England day in late December on the surveyor’s hands as he divided the land for Wheeler’s wife and heirs. Each map invites you into the world—as big as the earth or as small as a backyard—that someone laid out by hand.These stories often begin before ink was put to paper and have continued long after that ink has dried. Most of these maps rely on previous models, whether someone has traced, copied, transferred, or improved that original map. As individuals trace, copy, and amend the maps in front of them, they graft their own lives into stories of their maps. As murky as their origins can be, their futures are no clearer. When, after all, is a manuscript finished? We would struggle to distinguish a line or a legend added a day, a week, a month, maybe even a year after the initial marks on a map from two hundred years ago. These manuscripts point to a moment in a story that radiates into both past and future.These hazy beginnings and endings invite us into the ongoing life stories of these manuscripts as we discover the many lives that touch them.

NOTE: Harvard Forest did not provide written metadata. Rather, this metadata was written by the Martha's Vineyard Commission based on a phone conversation with Harvard Forest staff in Dec. 2023.Utilizing Harvard Forest's "Ancient Woodlands" data of 2019, the Martha's Vineyard Commission ran the Identity geoprocessing tool with that dataset and the MVC's 12/22/2023 version of the Open Space Conservation data for Martha's Vineyard. This process retained all of the Ancient Woodlands data and superimposed the attributes of [Level of Protection] and [OS_ID] into the Ancient Woodlands polygons. This permits one to readily analyze the data to see where Ancient Forests are currently protected in perpetuity, etc. Please see the Description section for background about Harvard Forest's delineation of the Ancient Woodlands.A domain table is provided which explains the Level of Protection codes. The [OS_ID] is a numeric ID which links back to the MVC's Open Space Conservation dataset. OS_ID is a unique identifier within that dataset. The numbers before the hyphen is the Town ID. 62 = Chilmark, 89 = Edgartown, 104 = Aquinnah, 221 = Oak Bluffs, 296 = Tisbury, 327 = West Tisbury.The Ancient Woodlands data were produced by Harvard Forest in Dec. 2019. Data for Martha's Vineyard were received from Harvard Forest in November of 2023. Looking at historic maps and older aerial photographs, Harvard Forest noted for 4 time periods when forest was present on the map or photo. Locations where forest was present for all 4 time periods, were regarded as 'Ancient Woodlands'. The 4 time periods reviewed were: circa 1850, circa 1890, 1938, 1993. Then the data were updated, based on Google's November 2018 photos, for recent development or new agricultural areas. Areas where development or agricultural fields existed were removed from the Ancient Woodlands dataset. The areas delineated in this dataset, represent Ancient Woodlands present as of year-end 2018. Please note: Ancient Woodlands are not the same as "Old Growth Forest".The specific citation for the 1850 and 1890 map are unknown. Harvard Forest georeferenced those maps in ArcGIS software. The 1938 black and white aerial photographs were georeferenced by a consultant hired by Harvard Forest. As an aside FYI, the 1993 photographs (color infrared? black & white?) is the same year of photography which was used for The Nature Conservancy's vegetation delineation of Martha's Vineyard. Not sure if Harvard Forest used the exact same photos as the TNC project but the time period is the same.Harvard Forest is in the process of analyzing the potential ecological benefit of these Ancient Woodlands. Preliminary results show these area have more huckleberry than non-Ancient Woodland areas.The Martha's Vineyard Commission did convert the Harvard Forest Ancient Woodlands data from multi-part polygons to single-part polygons prior to running the Identity analysis.

The MassGIS zoning datalayer represents the boundaries of municipal zoning districts. Because zoning is established at the town level, there is no standard district classification across the state. While districts in different towns may have similar or even identical names, their definitions are often quite different. Generalized codes have been added to make these data useful for regional display. A related table contains detailed information about the districts such as setbacks or text descriptions from each town’s zoning bylaws. Data are available for all communities. (Only primary district information is available for the City of Boston, not additional infomation for its bylaws.) MassGIS stores the data in a statewide ArcSDE layer named ZONING_POLY. Zoning district boundaries change frequently and MassGIS currently has no formal process in place to regularly update these coverages. These data should therefore be used for regional analysis only and not as official zoning maps. The town’s own official zoning map and current copy of the by-law should be considered as the final word on zoning boundary questions or issues. In August, 2007, data were updated for these 93 towns: Adams, Agawam, Amherst, Aquinnah, Ashburnham, Ashby, Athol, Ayer, Belchertown, Billerica, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Chelmsford, Cheshire, Chester, Chesterfield, Chicopee, Chilmark, Clarksburg, Clinton, Cummington, Dalton, Dennis, East Longmeadow, Edgartown, Egremont, Falmouth, Fitchburg, Gardner, Georgetown, Gosnold, Granby, Great Barrington, Groton, Hadley, Hampden, Harvard, Hatfield, Hubbardston, Huntington, Lancaster, Lanesborough, Lawrence, Lee, Lenox, Leominster, Lowell, Ludlow, Lunenburg, Mashpee, Monson, Monterey, New Ashford, North Adams, Northampton, Oak Bluffs, Otis, Palmer, Petersham, Phillipston, Pittsfield, Richmond, Rowley, Royalston, Russell, Salisbury, Sandisfield, Sheffield, Shirley, South Hadley, Southampton, Southwick, Sterling, Stockbridge, Templeton, Tisbury, Townsend, Truro, Ware, Washington, Wellfleet, West Springfield, West Stockbridge, West Tisbury, Westfield, Westminster, Wilbraham, Williamsburg, Williamstown, Winchendon, Worthington, and Yarmouth. Note: Complete metadata is available within the downloaded zip file. This metadata can be viewed with ESRI ArcGIS software, and can be exported to FGDC and ISO metadata formats.

January 2009