Crowdsourced georeferencing for Map Library Collections

Chris Fleet, Senior Map Curator, National Library of Scotland

CIGS Metadata & Web 2.0 Seminar, 21 June 2013

1. Advantages of georeferencing maps for libraries

2. Review of other approaches for crowdsourced

georeferencing

3. Georeferencer application in NLS and BL

4. Key success factors

5. Future developments

Crowdsourced georeferencing for Map Library Collections

Georeferencing workflow

Why georeference maps?

1. To visualise maps in new or better ways

2. To improve access to and retrieval of maps

3. To allow new ways of understanding the content of early

maps

4. To allow maps to be integrated with other spatial

information

5. To allow maps to be compared more easily to each other

1. To visualise maps in new or better ways

1. To visualise maps in new or better ways

1. To visualise maps in new or better ways

1. To visualise maps in new or better ways

1. To visualise maps in new or better ways

1. To visualise maps in new or better ways

1. To visualise maps in new or better ways

2. To improve access to and retrieval of maps

2. To improve access to and retrieval of maps

2. To improve access to and retrieval of maps

2. To improve access to and retrieval of maps

2. To improve access to and retrieval of maps

Map Images viewer

2. NLS OS 25 inch sheet boundaries in ScotlandsPlaces

2. NLS map sheet boundaries in OldMapsOnline

eg. Geo-referencing for understanding the content of early portolan charts

3. To allow new ways of understanding the content of early

maps

4. To allow maps to be integrated with other spatial

information

eg. height – walled city of Beirut from 18th century

4. To allow maps to be integrated with other spatial

information

eg. property ownership

5. To allow maps to be compared more easily to each other

Online versions at:

digital.nls.uk/bartholomew

Other approaches – QUAD-G

http://www.geography.wisc.edu/research/projects/quad-g/

Other approaches: NYPL Map Warper

http://maps.nypl.org/warper/

Other approaches: eHarta

http://earth.unibuc.ro/articole/eHarta?lang=en

NLS Georeferencer – projects page

http://maps.nls.uk/projects/georeferencer/

NLS Georeferencer – crowdsourced georeferencing

NLS Georeferencer – Georeferencer window

NLS Georeferencer – Georeferencer window

NLS Georeferencer – Georeferencer window

NLS Georeferencer – Visualise window

NLS Georeferencer – Accuracy window

NLS Georeferencer – Control Points in Google fusion table

Georeferenced metadata – MARC extents and GeoTIFF header info

Paris, France E 2°13'27"-E 2°28'11"/N 48°54'07"-N 48°48'56"

Format for MARC Aleph 034: $$dE0021327$$eE0022811$$fN0485407$$gN0484856255: $$cE 2°13'27"-E 2°28'11"/N 48°54'07"-N 48°48'56"

Driver: GTiff/GeoTIFFFiles: 100741793.tifSize is 10642, 8892Coordinate System is: PROJCS["OSGB_1936_British_National_Grid", GEOGCS["GCS_OSGB 1936",…Origin = (453544.409153918500000,145329.490622364830000)Pixel Size = (0.636277533843237,-0.636277533843237)Metadata:Corner Coordinates:Upper Left ( 453544.409, 145329.491) ( 1d14'0.54"W, 51d12'14.93"N)Lower Left ( 453544.409, 139671.711) ( 1d14'3.57"W, 51d 9'11.77"N)…

NLS Georeferencer - results

1,000 early maps of Scotland - released November 2010

half of the maps were georeferenced in the first 16 months, some categories of maps, such as town plans, completely georeferenced in this time

But...

problems with the registration and login problems with map image display passive promotion

2011 developments

improved design and professional instructional video simpler registration and user logging statistics and visualisation tools supporting competition in crowdsourcing

BL Georeferencer – Georeference window

BL Georeferencer – Visualise window

BL Georeferencer – Visualise window

BL Georeferencer – Feb 2012 results: “Round One”

• 725 maps assigned spatial

metadata

• Completed in less than one week

• Publicity minimal – social media

*key*

• ~90 participants

• Top five completed half the work

• Data quality good: <3% had errors

>.005

Content relevant

Accessibility and convenience of application

Activity engaging

Immediate results and feedback

Competitive crowdsourcing tools

Recognition and visible overall contribution

Asking the top five contributors

BL Georeferencer – What made it work ?

BL Georeferencer – top georeferencers

44

BL Georeferencer – Competitive widgets

ICC Georeferencer – top contributors’ widgets

Georeferencer: Future Developments

Adopt personalisation and localisation tools, including a "My Maps" option, the ability to upload custom scans by individuals, and the translation of the web interface into other European languages beyond English.

Include better georeferencing options

Add better support for multi-sheet maps and map series.

Implement WMS / WMTS services - for georeferenced maps, allowing their presentation in a browser without requiring a Google Earth browser plugin, as well as in other web-mapping applications.

Allow annotations of georeferenced maps by users and so exploiting the advantages of semantic links and extraction of textual content (including place names) from the maps themselves.

Crowdsourcing Placenames: Wales1900Cymru Zooniverse Project

http://www.cymru1900wales.org/

Thank you

NLS Georeferencer: http://maps.nls.uk/projects/georeferencer/

Fleet, Kowal & Pridal, “Georeferencer: Crowdsourced Georeferencing for Map Library Collections”,

D-Lib Magazine 18(11/12), November/December 2012http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november12/fleet/11fleet.html