Overlaying maps

[LafayetteCountyDigger]

Hello I have 2 pictures of maps that I want to over lay but I can't find a program to do it, can y'all recommend me anything that can help me out?

 

[John Winn]

Can't help with software (although I do know Photoshop makes such possible; expensive and big learning curve).

I will say that simply overlaying images does not a "map" make. You'll essentially be stretching and molding the images such that they appear to fit. There will be a lot of error and you will not have an actual scale. The error will vary depending on how close the images were to start with. Realize that aerial photos have inherent error radiating from the focal point (i.e. the scale is not the same everywhere on the photo). Satellite imagery isn't a photo but, rather, millions of data pixels assembled after the fact and artificially assigned coloration. Drawings rarely are actually to scale (at least not everywhere in the picture).

So, if you just want to sort of see where things on one image are on the other image you very well might be able to do that but you won't be able to make reliable measurements and the like as you could on an actual map.

Good luck.

 

[DixieRifles]

Google Earth will allow you to overlay an old or new map (scan) on top of it. GE also shows the topography in 3D and allows you to rotate, tilt or zoom in/out.
I havent done this in years and I had help.
I overlayed an 1862 map by Lt Hames Wilson by matching the RR. A friend also overlayed a 1944 Army Intelligence maps on the mountainous terrain of N Italy. The Observation Posts fell in the peak of a hill and the mines aligned with a road.

 

[Patrick H]

I've done it in Photoshop, but I use Photoshop every day in my work. As @john Winn says, the full edition is expensive and the learning curve can be difficult. I know you will find an alternate means to do it. When you do, please share it here, because I would also like to know some alternate ways of doing things.

 

[A. Roy]

I understand that Google Earth now allows you to overlay historical maps on the modern landscape. I haven't tried it, but I have watched a tutorial, and I get the feeling it will take some learning to use it.

I have done a couple of localized projects laying out a historical map on today's ground using Google MyMaps, which is fairly simple to use. I couldn't really overlay the older map, but what I did was match up key anchor points on the historical map with today's map, then used measurements and angles to draw out the features of the historical map onto the Google version. In case something like that would be useful, here's a link where you can play around with the Google version. You can zoom in and out to see how it works in detail:

Raleigh NC Civil War Fortifications - Google My Maps

This map traces the 1863 entrenchments around the city of Raleigh, N.C., on the modern landscape. This is a 2021 revision of a preliminary version started in 2019. The map has three layers: 1. The first layer shows the anchor points used for A.R. Bredenberg's takeoff of the 1863 Guion map onto...

www.google.com

ARB

 

[infomanpa]

Hello I have 2 pictures of maps that I want to over lay but I can't find a program to do it, can y'all recommend me anything that can help me out?

Can't help with software (although I do know Photoshop makes such possible; expensive and big learning curve).

Google Earth will allow you to overlay an old or new map (scan) on top of it. GE also shows the topography in 3D and allows you to rotate, tilt or zoom in/out.

Dixie Rifles is correct, mainly because Google Earth is free and much easier to use than the expensive Photoshop. I use overlays a lot. Below is an example:

 

[Patrick H]

Dixie Rifles is correct, mainly because Google Earth is free and much easier to use than the expensive Photoshop. I use overlays a lot. Below is an example:View attachment 477838

This is very interesting.