What if we could create a GIS map with layers?

[Barrycdog]

For example let's say we took a battlefield and created a 3d map with all the information available then your each decade create a layer for say 1870 to show possible farming, erosion etc. The create a layer for each decade 1880,1890,1900 all the way up till perhaps 2010 and then you could compare each layer to identify where skirmishes, battles and certain events to place like where a certain hill was and was it bulldozed, where a certain house was etc.etc..

 

[Allie]

For example let's say we took a battlefield and created a 3d map with all the information available then your each decade create a layer for say 1870 to show possible farming, erosion etc. The create a layer for each decade 1880,1890,1900 all the way up till perhaps 2010 and then you could compare each layer to identify where skirmishes, battles and certain events to place like where a certain hill was and was it bulldozed, where a certain house was etc.etc..

Just a 2d map with interactive layers of that sort would be a good start. 3d would be very doable, but costly in terms of man hours.

 

[AndyHall]

This is very do-able with a tool like Google Earth. You can overlay multiple maps over a terrain, and the user can turn them on and off at will. If the map overlays are put up on a server accessible on the Internet (e.g., like an image file uploaded here) the overlays can be accessed by anyone using Google Earth.

The real trick is getting clean, reliable maps with a high degree of accuracy, where the house stays in exactly the same spot from map to map to map. Most maps up into the 20th don't really have that precision.

Added: you have to load a .KMZ file as well, that tells Google Earth how to display the overlay, which is otherwise simply a picture.

 

[Allie]

This is very do-able with a tool like Google Earth. You can overlay multiple maps over a terrain, and the user can turn them on and off at will. If the map overlays are put up on a server accessible on the Internet (e.g., like an image file uploaded here) the overlays can be accessed by anyone using Google Earth.

The real trick is getting clean, reliable maps with a high degree of accuracy, where the house stays in exactly the same spot from map to map to map.

I've got three historical maps of Memphis overlaid like this on my Google Earth. Had to distort them using another program before they would fit properly.

Unfortunately there aren't good maps available for some of the areas I'm interested in, and the Sanborn map archive people have been taken over by a company with a paywall.

 

[AndyHall]

and the Sanborn map archive people have been taken over by a company with a paywall.

Can you get access through your local library? Ours gives online access to Texas Sanborn maps through our library card. That's how I figured out exactly were Braxton Bragg snuffed it in 1876, because they changed all the address numbering system not long after.

 

[Allie]

Can you get access through your local library? Ours gives online access to Texas Sanborn maps through our library card. That's how I figured out exactly were Braxton Bragg carked in 1876, because they changed all the address numbering system not long after.

I haven't tried it - our library system is in such disarray that Germantown split from them and formed its own thing. I should probably look into it.

 

[Barrycdog]

I was thinking say Gettysburg for example. This would take some man hours and lots of info but be able to take all the details of the battle and then every improvement from there. The using GPS you could determine what point you are etc etc.

 

[Shadow9216]

You might be able to do that if you used something like ArcGIS (http://www.arcgis.com), but it would be easier if you had assistance from dedicated geospatial analysts (found here: https://www.nga.mil/Pages/default.aspx) and maybe from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency ((www.noaa.gov) and the US Geologic Survey (www.usgs.gov/) . This is something probably fairly easy to do if you could get in touch with the analysts- lots of them love to tackle side projects in their spare time.

 

[E_just_E]

I have been playing with overlaying several maps, including Elliot's, with Google aerial shots of Gettysburg. It is an interesting exercise and pretty informative. I got large images of those overlays, which I access with an iPad when there. I suspect that it would be straight forward if someone had the time and $ to do a live thing of something like that over the web. I am pretty sure that Google Earth has an API that can be used for such a purpose. Would make a pretty good Master's thesis project I suspect