Friday, July 17, 2015

Open History Mapping


The OpenHistoricalMap uses the OpenStreetMap platform to create maps of the past. The aim of the project is to create "the world's most universal, detailed, and out-of-date map" (and you thought that was the job of Apple Maps).

Using either iD or Potlatch you can use OpenHistoricalMap to map any location as it used to be in any period of its history. To get an idea of what is possible with OpenHistoricalMap you can take a look at this list of current map projects. This list includes a European wide map of Roman roads, sites important in the American Civil War, 19th Century Seattle and a map of 1907 Helsinki.

Alternatively you can check-out the 18th Century map of Saeby, Denmark on OHM. You can compare the historical map of Saeby to today's modern OSM map by opening the 'Layers' tool and switching between the 'historical' and 'standard OSM' layers.

Because OpenHistoricalMap is an open project you can use the map data as long as you credit OpenHistoricalMap and its contributors. To aide you in downloading historical map data OHM even provides an Overpass server for the project.

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