Updates to historical maps in Historic Digmap

On Tuesday 1st March, EDINA will be updating the metadata for the historical maps in Historic Digimap. The metadata changes will affect only the Scottish County Series maps and will mean that some maps will appear to “move decade”. More details of the implications of these changes are given below.


Accuracy of publication dates

When the maps were originally scanned, the detailed marginalia on the original paper map sheets was not captured at the same time. The marginalia contained information such as the survey year, publication year, re-publication year (if applicable) and surveyor name. During the digitisation process only one year from the marginalia was recorded; it is assumed this was the publication year but there was always some uncertainty around this.

A joint project between EDINA and the National Library of Scotland (NLS) was undertaken to digitise the marginalia of the original paper copies of the historical maps held by NLS. The metadata captured included the Survey Year and Publication Year. Until now, the survey year of all maps in Historic Digimap was unknown. We now have the survey year for a significant number (but not all) of the County Series maps for Scotland at both 1:2500 and 1:10 560 scales.

The significance of this project to Historic Digimap is that we can now use the more accurate and reliable publication dates for many of the County Series maps to improve the mapping and download facilities offered. In order to make use of the new NLS publication dates, these were matched with the original metadata using a series of rigorous database queries and manual processing.



How many maps have changed?

Consequently, around 35,000 County Series map tiles* (18%) now have survey years. Of these, around 28,000 tiles also have a more accurate publication date. In the majority of cases (over 70%) the publication date has only changed by a year or two. For nearly 2,000 tiles the change in publication date is more than 10 years, with the largest single change being 39 years. For those tiles which have not had updates to the survey year, the Landmark publication year used remains unchanged.


So what does this mean for Ancient Roam and Historic Download?

Nothing has changed in Historic Download in terms of how historical maps can be found and downloaded, but the updated publication dates will be reflected in dates provided on the order summary page in the downloader. These will be more accurate and reliable than previously.

For Ancient Roam, there are some more significant effects. The publication date is used to determine which maps are visible in each decade given in the timeline along the top of the map screen.

Many of the maps for which the publication date has changed by one or two years will remain within the same decade and therefore will not be affected. However, for some maps a change of a year or two in the publication date may be enough to shift the map from one decade to another. For example, a map previously thought to have been published in 1889 but now known to have been published in 1901, originally appeared in the 1890s decade but now appears in the 1900s decade.

Where there have been more significant changes in the publication date some have resulted in entirely new decades being available in the timeline for particular areas. For example, in Forfarshire there were two County Series editions in the 1890s. This was because maps originally published in the 1860s and 1870s were re-published in the 1890s. So where no maps appeared for Forfarshire in 1860/70s, they do now!

Other maps with significant publication date changes tend to be odd outlying tiles that for some reason had a significantly different date from neighbouring tiles. This means that some odd ‘holes’ have been filled.


How do I find out the map date source?

In addition to the new survey and publication data information, the Map Details information box will also be updated. A new icon has been added to the tool bar to access the map information and the information box styling has been updated in keeping with the other Digimap Roam clients. Three new attributes have been added to the Map Details information: Year Surveyed (where applicable), Sheet Title (where applicable) and Date Source. The Date Source information will tell you whether the publication year came from the original Landmark data or the NLS metadata.

While these changes to Scottish County Series maps means that the per decade classification is now different, the changes mean that the dates are now more accurate. Our thanks go to the National Library of Scotland for their hard work on this project.



The updates to Historic Digimap will take effect on the evening of 1 March 2011.

*Map tiles refers to the ‘cookie-cut’ National Grid versions of the maps, not the original County Sheets

Historic Download - new service

Launched as a BETA service on 20 April 2010, Historic Download is an entirely new facility allowing users to select and download larger quantities of historical map data.


The facility offers the capability to browse contemporary maps of the UK which have been shaded blue to indicate the coverage of historical maps of each series and edition. Areas of historical maps can be selected for download by clicking on the appropriate shaded polygons or by dragging a box to select multiple map sheets.

The interface has been designed to improve selection and retrieval of larger quantities of data for research projects. Build up a list of the data you need, choosing maps from different editions of a given product and take up to 200 maps in a single download.

EDINA welcomes feedback on this BETA service. You can contact us on edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302.

Launching Ancient Roam

Ancient Roam is a new mapping facility within Historic Digimap. It is based upon the Roam mapping client available from Digimap's OS Collection and includes the standard features such as fixed scale map views, 'slippy maps', searching by place name, postcode and grid reference, easy to use zooming and comprehensive help.



Key features specific to Ancient Roam include the ability to select historical maps from any decade (depending on map coverage and availability) using the Timeline along the top of the map window. Ancient Roam also offers an easier means of identifying and selecting maps in areas where County Series overlap at County boundaries. A single click on the map will also query maps to display the year the map shown was published along with other information about the map.

New Town Plan Maps
The large scale Town Plans are now available to view in Ancient Roam and download from Historic Download. The Town Plans are the largest scale historical maps available from Digimap offering great detail at 1:500, 1:528 and 1:1056 scales. The coverage of these maps is limited in that only settlements with a population greater than 4000 at the time of surveying were mapped. It is interesting to see what were regarded, then, as "urban" areas. The detail captured is enlightening; individual trees are marked in parkland and many industrial and commercial uses of land and buildings are noted.



Beta Service
Currently available as a BETA service, Ancient Roam will continue to undergo development over the coming weeks. Proposed additional functions include:

• PDF map creation for printing


• My Maps, to enable bookmarking screen maps for future reference


• Multiple historical map views, to enable comparison of maps of different dates


• Map fade slider, to show transition between maps of different dates


• The ability to download the original Map sheet data which makes up your current on-screen map view

EDINA would welcome feedback on the service and on these proposed developments. Please contact us on edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302

Changes to Digimap on 26 January

Yesterday, Tuesday 26 January 2010, some changes were made to Digimap. These are detailed as follows:

1. Classic removed from Ordnance Survey Collection.
As advertised on 5 October 2009 and 6 January 2010 this old facility has been removed and replaced by the new Roam facility. You can find a demonstration of Roam on the EDINA website: Roam demonstration

2. Historic Digimap "preview map sheet" button has been removed.
This function used out-of-date technology to render the original historical map sheets in the browser window. It was extremely slow and was dependent upon software installed on a machine which is being decommissioned. It is much quicker and more user-friendly to download the map sheet required and view it locally.

3. Marine Digimap Hydrospatial data updated.
The 2009 version of SeaZone's Hydrospatial data is now available through Hydrospatial Download. Late delivery of the data has meant a delay of the release from September 2009 to January 2010.

Publication dates for historic maps

Question: How do I find out what 'Publish Year Start' and 'Publish Year End' dates means for the maps in Historic Digimap?


Answer: The publishing date range of a map in the Map Details tab from the Main Map View in Historic Digimap. This is achieved by using the View Map Details tool (an i symbol) and clicking on the historic map at the point of interest.

The maps shown on the screen are created from the National Grid "cookie cut" files - images which have been rectified and clipped to create a national grid based "tiled" dataset akin to those available for the contemporary Ordnance Survey data. However, the National Grid does not match up with the County Series maps, because the County Series were created on a per County, rather than a national, basis. It is therefore likely that one "cookie cut" National Grid tile comprises parts of more than one County Series map sheet, each of which could have a different publishing date.

The metadata for the National Grid "cookie cuts" often does not contain one publishing date but the range (from, to) of publishing dates of the Orginal mapsheets which make up that national grid cookie cut tile. It is this range which is reported under the Map Details tab.

Unfortunately, EDINA does not have any survey dates for the maps in the Historic Digimap. Landmark Information Group who provided the maps did not capture the survey dates when the maps were digitised (scanned). This is because the maps were originally digitsed for a specific purpose which did not require the information held in the marginalia of each map sheet. During the digitisation process the marginalia was trimmed from the resultant files, meaning that it was never captured in digital form.

A solution to this is to visit a library which holds historic maps; many university libraries have historic map collections with specialised cartographers and support staff. The map details taken from Historic Digimap can be used to search for and locate the map(s) corresponding to your area of interest. Once found, it is in a map's marginalia where you can find the recorded survey dates.

More detailed information about historic maps and Historic Digimap can be found in the Help pages.

Britain from Above - Land Use Maps

You may have seen a recent episode of Andrew Marr's BBC programme Britain from Above which featured the Land Utilisation maps created by Dudley Stamp in the 1930s. You can watch the relevant section again on the BBC website here.

Land Use Viewer interface

These maps are available through Historic Digimap under the Land Use Viewer. You need to have a subscription to Historic Digimap in order to gain access, but there is no individual user registration.

Sample of Dudley Stamp's land use maps

Historic Digimap: licence and consultation

Reminder of new licence agreement
A new, three-year sub-licence is now available for Historic Digimap, the service offering historic Ordnance Survey maps and data from the Landmark Information Group. Current subscribing institutions will be contacted directly to ensure continued access from 1 August 2008 onwards. The new licence will run from 1 August 2008 until 31 July 2011. Full details, including subscription forms and costs, can be found on the JISC Collections website at: http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/catalogue/coll_digimap_historic.aspx

Trials
In addition, 30-day trials are offered to those from institutions wishing to assess the service prior to subscription. Please contact the EDINA Helpdesk on edina@ed.ac.uk to request such a trial. You can read more about Historic Digimap on the EDINA website at: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/description/historic_overview.shtml

Consultation on additional datasets
JISC Collections are currently running a consultation for the purchase of additional datasets for Historic Digimap. Among the suggested purchases are the GOAD Fire Insurance plans and historical town plans.

Representatives from existing institutions and others interested in the Collection are invited to complete the short survey at their earliest convenience. This can be done online, and should take only a few minutes to complete:

http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/consultations/new_agreements/historicdigi_cons

Click the link to the "online response form" in the Introduction.

Historic Digimap: Licence Renewal

If your institution subscribes to Historic Digimap, you should note that the current licence ends on 31 July 2008 and the new licence begins on 1 August 2008. Subscription costs for the next licence period are now available from JISC Collections website.

All subscription forms should be completed and sent to the JISC Collections Helpdesk. Details of the subscription process can be found on the JISC Collections "how to subscribe" page.

Please do not send subscription forms to EDINA.

Note also that from 1 August 2008 access to Historic Digimap will be via the UK Federation and OpenAthens.