The ArcGIS Online US Geological Survey (USGS) topographic map collection now contains over 177,000 historical quadrangle maps dating from 1882 to 2006. The USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer app brings these maps to life through an interface that guides users through the steps for exploring the map collection:Find a location of interest.View the maps.Compare the maps.Download and share the maps or open them in ArcGIS Desktop (ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap) where places will appear in their correct geographic location. Save the maps in an ArcGIS Online web map.

Finding the maps of interest is simple. Users can see a footprint of the map in the map view before they decide to add it to the display, and thumbnails of the maps are shown in pop-ups on the timeline. The timeline also helps users find maps because they can zoom and pan, and maps at select scales can be turned on or off by using the legend boxes to the left of the timeline. Once maps have been added to the display, users can reorder them by dragging them. Users can also download maps as zipped GeoTIFF images. Users can also share the current state of the app through a hyperlink or social media. This ArcWatch article guides you through each of these steps: https://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcwatch/1014/envisioning-the-past.Once signed in, users can create a web map with the current map view and any maps they have selected. The web map will open in ArcGIS Online. The title of the web map will be the same as the top map on the side panel of the app. All historical maps that were selected in the app will appear in the Contents section of the web map with the earliest at the top and the latest at the bottom. Turning the historical maps on and off or setting the transparency on the layers allows users to compare the historical maps over time. Also, the web map can be opened in ArcGIS Desktop (ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap) and used for exploration or data capture.Users can find out more about the USGS topograhic map collection and the app by clicking on the information button at the upper right. This opens a pop-up with information about the maps and app. The pop-up includes a useful link to a USGS web page that provides access to documents with keys explaining the symbols on historic and current USGS topographic maps. The pop-up also has a link to send Esri questions or comments about the map collection or the app.We have shared the updated app on GitHub, so users can download it and configure it to work with their own map collections.

ICDAR 2021 Competition on Historical Map Segmentation — Dataset

This is the dataset of the ICDAR 2021 Competition on Historical Map Segmentation (“MapSeg”). This competition ran from November 2020 to April 2021. Evaluation tools are freely available but distributed separately.

Official competition website: https://icdar21-mapseg.github.io/

The competition report can be cited as:

Joseph Chazalon, Edwin Carlinet, Yizi Chen, Julien Perret, Bertrand Duménieu, Clément Mallet, Thierry Géraud, Vincent Nguyen, Nam Nguyen, Josef Baloun, Ladislav Lenc, and Pavel Král, "ICDAR 2021 Competition on Historical Map Segmentation", in Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR'21), September 5-10, 2021, Lausanne, Switzerland.

BibTeX entry:

@InProceedings{chazalon.21.icdar.mapseg, author = {Joseph Chazalon and Edwin Carlinet and Yizi Chen and Julien Perret and Bertrand Duménieu and Clément Mallet and Thierry Géraud and Vincent Nguyen and Nam Nguyen and Josef Baloun and Ladislav Lenc and and Pavel Král}, title = {ICDAR 2021 Competition on Historical Map Segmentation}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR'21)}, year = {2021}, address = {Lausanne, Switzerland}, }

We thank the City of Paris for granting us with the permission to use and reproduce the atlases used in this work.

The images of this dataset are extracted from a series of 9 atlases of the City of Paris produced between 1894 and 1937 by the Map Service (“Service du plan”) of the City of Paris, France, for the purpose of urban management and planning. For each year, a set of approximately 20 sheets forms a tiled view of the city, drawn at 1/5000 scale using trigonometric triangulation.

Sample citation of original documents:

Atlas municipal des vingt arrondissements de Paris. 1894, 1895, 1898, 1905, 1909, 1912, 1925, 1929, and 1937. Bibliothèque de l’Hôtel de Ville. City of Paris. France.

Motivation

This competition aims as encouraging research in the digitization of historical maps. In order to be usable in historical studies, information contained in such images need to be extracted. The general pipeline involves multiples stages; we list some essential ones here:

segment map content: locate the area of the image which contains map content;

extract map object from different layers: detect objects like roads, buildings, building blocks, rivers, etc. to create geometric data;

georeference the map: by detecting objects at known geographic coordinate, compute the transformation to turn geometric objects into geographic ones (which can be overlaid on current maps).

Task overview

Task 1: Detection of building blocks

Task 2: Segmentation of map content within map sheets

Task 3: Localization of graticule lines intersections

Please refer to the enclosed README.md file or to the official website for the description of tasks and file formats.

Evaluation metrics and tools

Evaluation metrics are described in the competition report and tools are available at https://github.com/icdar21-mapseg/icdar21-mapseg-eval and should also be archived using Zenodo.

This historical map series consists of the Planimetric Series printed monochrome maps named using the National Topographic System (NTS) map sheet identifier within Alberta. The Planimetric Series base maps were initiated in 1949 and derived from aerial photographs taken during the years 1949 to 1952. These maps display: Alberta Township System (ATS) - hydrographic features - provincial highways - roads - pipelines - transmission lines - municipalities. These maps are not available as GIS-ready data. All available maps are provided in Adobe PDF and TIF format. To obtain the TIF format, please contact the distributor. Geo-referenced PNG files are also available for some maps, but some are roughly georeferenced with only a few control points. Please note that the coverage for the province is incomplete and it is not known if further coverage will be added. Some maps were also updated after their initial publication, please refer to the maps for the most current dates.

Collection of digitised orthophoto maps over Queensland at various scales 1975–1996. An orthophoto map displays traditional map contours over an aerial photograph base. The quality of scans varies. The majority of series include key maps.

Please note: Each CSV file includes a jpg_linkage column this column contains the URL required to access the related map scan.

The archive contains scanned images of published and unpublished, geological maps for New Zealand, its offshore territories and Antarctica. The maps range from field sheets to draft compilations to complete maps as published. The collection includes maps dating back to the mid 19th century until 2012. The hardcopy maps are stored in an archive facility at GNS Science's Lower Hutt building and some of the oldest maps are stored with the National Library. Most maps in the collection are available in digital formats; hardcopy maps have been scanned in high resolution during the 2010s, georeferenced and made available through a map image server. These maps represent the pre-2012 component of the Regional Geological Map Archive and Datafile, one of New Zealand Nationally Significant Collections and Databases, and complement more recent digital geological maps available from the Geological Map of New Zealand repository. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21420/Z8Z1-TR54 Cite as: GNS Science. (1850). Historic Geological Map Archive [Data set]. GNS Science. https://doi.org/10.21420/Z8Z1-TR54

This web map shows the historical map of Hong Kong which depicts the topography of the whole territory of Hong Kong in 1957. It is a set of data made available by the Lands Department under the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the “Government”) at https://portal.csdi.gov.hk ("CSDI Portal"). The source data has been processed and converted into Esri Tile layer format and then uploaded to Esri’s ArcGIS Online platform for sharing and reference purpose. The objectives are to facilitate our Hong Kong ArcGIS Online users to use the data in a spatial ready format and save their data conversion effort.For details about the data, source format and terms of conditions of usage, please refer to the website of Hong Kong CSDI Portal at https://portal.csdi.gov.hk.

The Niagara Historical Map Gallery is a collection of historical maps covering various portions of the Niagara Peninsula dating back to the 18th century. All maps are georeferenced. Each map has an app with links to 'Description and download' from the University's Digital Repository.

Historical Maps from Rumsey collection as background to North American Missions Data

This is a mosaic of 37 scanned and georeferenced plat maps of the City of Rochester, NY, from 1888.Citation: Robinson's Atlas of the City of Rochester, Monroe County, New York, 1888

This historical map series consists of the Planimetric Series printed monochrome maps named using the National Topographic System (NTS) map sheet identifier within Alberta. The Planimetric Series base maps were initiated in 1949 and derived from aerial photographs taken during the years 1949 to 1952. These maps display: Alberta Township System (ATS) - hydrographic features - provincial highways - roads - pipelines - transmission lines - municipalities. These maps are not available as GIS-ready data. All available maps are provided in Adobe PDF and TIF format. To obtain the TIF format, please contact the distributor. Geo-referenced PNG files are also available for some maps, but some are roughly georeferenced with only a few control points. Please note that the coverage for the province is incomplete and it is not known if further coverage will be added. Some maps were also updated after their initial publication, please refer to the maps for the most current dates.

Historical grid map of Axel from 1560

The R502 series of maps has been replaced by the National Topographic Map Series (NTMS). The R502 series consists of 542 map sheets and covers Australia at a scale of 1:250,000. It was compiled from aerial photography, but only about one quarter of the series was contoured. The standard sheet size is 1 degree of latitude by 1.5 degrees of longitude. Transverse Mercator map projection and Clark 1858 datum were used. Coverage of the country was completed in 1968.

Toronto’s Don River Valley is arguably the city’s most distinctive physical feature. As a provider of water, power, sustenance, building materials, and transportation, it has played an important role in the city’s settlement and development. The river valley has changed dramatically in the years since European settlement, particularly during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when the Lower Don River was straightened and channelized and the huge marsh at its mouth drained and filled. Today, the Lower Valley forms the foundation for one of the most densely populated areas in Canada, outlining as it does the eastern portion of Toronto’s downtown core and radiating residential areas. This project documents historical changes in the landscape of the Don River Valley. Drawing from the wide range of geographical information available for the Don River watershed (and the Lower Don in particular), including historical maps, geological maps, fire insurance plans, planning documents, and city directories, the project uses Geographic Information Systems software to place, compile, synthesize and interpret this information and make it more accessible as geospatial data and maps. The project is a work in progress. To date, we have scanned several dozen historical maps of Toronto and the Don River watershed, and compiled the following geospatial datasets: 1) changes to the river channel and shoreline of Toronto harbour, 1858-1918; 2) industrial development in the Lower Don River Watershed, 1857-1951 (as points, and in some cases polygons); 3) historical mill sites in the Don River Watershed, 1825; 18524) land ownership in the watershed, 1860 and 1878; and 4) points of interest in the watershed. In the future, we hope to expand the project to include data from other Toronto area watersheds and other parts of the city. The project was conducted through a collaboration between Jennifer Bonnell, a doctoral student in the History of Education program at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/UT) - now at York University in the History Department and Marcel Fortin, the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Map Librarian at the University of Toronto's Map and Data Library. Financial and in-kind support was provided by the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE) and the University of Toronto Libraries. Valuable research support for the Points of Interest pages came from Lost Rivers, a community-based urban ecology organization focused on building public awareness of the City's river systems. Jordan Hale, a University of Toronto Geography student conducted much of the digitization and database work.This project could not have been completed without their skilled assistance and dedication.

The R502 series of maps has been replaced by the National Topographic Map Series (NTMS). The R502 series consists of 542 map sheets and covers Australia at a scale of 1:250,000. It was compiled from aerial photography, but only about one quarter of the series was contoured. The standard sheet size is 1 degree of latitude by 1.5 degrees of longitude. Transverse Mercator map projection and Clark 1858 datum were used. Coverage of the country was completed in 1968.

The City is preparing Historic District Design Guidelines to provide information on the types of alterations that are permitted under City regulations. Historic districts are areas containing groups of older houses that are intact and unaltered. While each building may not be individually worthy of landmark status, collectively they preserve the visual qualities and ambiance of the past. Streetscape features, such as trees or light standards, may contribute to the historic value of the district.

Cook County GIS Department map of municipal boundaries in Cook Cook County, Illinois in PDF format. Includes major streets, waterbodies, rail, Cook County Forest Preserve, and municipal boundaries.

Historical maps lcf:Historical maps lcf

This dataset comprises 2 collections of maps. The facsmile collection contains all the marginalia information from the original map as well as the map itself, while the georectified collection contains just the map with an associated index for locating them. Each collection comprises approximately 101 000 monochrome images at 6-inch (1:10560) scale. Each image is supplied in .tiff format with appropriate ArcView and MapInfo world files, and shows the topography for all areas of England, Wales and Scotland as either quarter or, in some cases, full sheets. The images will cover the approximate epochs 1880's, 1900's, 1910's, 1920's and 1930's, but note that coverage is not countrywide for each epoch. The data was purchased by BGS from Sitescope, who obtained it from three sources - Royal Geographical Society, Trinity College Dublin and the Ordnance Survey. The data is for internal use by BGS staff on projects, and is available via a customised application created for the network GDI enabling users to search for and load the maps of their choice. The dataset will have many uses across all the geoscientific disciplines across which BGS operates, and should be viewed as a valuable addition to the BGS archive. There has been a considerable amount of work done during 2005, 2006 and 2007 to improve the accuracy of the OS Historic Map Collection. All maps should now be located to +- 50m or better. This is the best that can be achieved cost effectively. There are a number of reasons why the maps are inaccurate. Firstly, the original maps are paper and many are over 100 years old. They have not been stored in perfect condition. The paper has become distorted to varying degrees over time. The maps were therefore not accurate before scanning. Secondly, different generations of maps will have used different surveying methods and different spatial referencing systems. The same geographical object will not necessarily be in the same spatial location on subsequent editions. Thirdly, we are discussing maps, not plans. There will be cartographic generalisations which will affect the spatial representation and location of geographic objects. Finally, the georectification was not done in BGS but by the company from whom we purchased the maps. The company no longer exists. We do not know the methodology used for georectification.

This dataset is part of the Heritage Map Historical Landscape. This theme contains 7 datasets, all 7 of which can be found here with the keywords €œHistorical Landscape€. They contain information about land use, urban development , infrastructure, government, crafts and industry, commerce, defense, social, religion, transportation, housing, other objects and historical maps.

This is a georeferenced raster image of a printed paper map of the Bay de Verde, Newfoundland region (Sheet No. 002C02), published in 1954. It is the first edition in a series of maps, which show both natural and man-made features such as relief, spot heights, administrative boundaries, secondary and side roads, railways, trails, wooded areas, waterways including lakes, rivers, streams and rapids, bridges, buildings, mills, power lines, terrain, and land formations. This map was published in 1954 and the information on the map is current as of 1948. Maps were produced by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and it's preceding agencies, in partnership with other government agencies. Please note: image / survey capture dates can span several years, and some details may have been updated later than others. Please consult individual map sheets for detailed production information, which can be found in the bottom left hand corner. Original maps were digitally scanned by McGill Libraries in partnership with Canadiana.org, and georeferencing for the maps was provided by the University of Toronto Libraries and Eastview Corporation.